Abnormal (Book 1 in the Abominations Saga)
by Lixxie-Queen.Lily.Arctic
Summary: Rose Tyler was a normal girl, working in a normal shop, with a normal(ish) mum and a normal boyfriend. Everything was normal. And then she met the people who would turn her life upside down. A woman and her daughter. And together they would be... Fantastic.
1. Prologue

Rose Tyler was a normal girl, working in a normal shop, with a normal(ish) mum and a normal boyfriend. Everything was normal.

And then she met the people who would turn her life upside down.

A woman and her daughter.  
And together they would be...

Fantastic.

 **Welcome to the beginning of my new fanfic!**

 **Description of Ninth Protector**

 **Straight dark hair, usually worn down and clipped back by a silver butterfly clip, with hazel eyes. She wears black jeggings, which black combat boots, a tank top in various colours and a black leather jacket. Portrayed by Hetty Abbott.**

 **Description of First Star**

 **She has light brown hair and crystal blue eyes. She wears black or grey leggings, with loose t-shirts. Her hair is either completely down or pulled into a ponytail or plait. She is portrayed by Ella Anderson.**

 **This has got to be one of the saddest and most difficult series I have ever written. Trust me, by the time this is over your bedrooms or wherever you are reading this series are going to be flooded with tissues.**

 **Prepare for...**

 **Adventure.**  
 **Fun.**  
 **Love.**  
 **Excitement.**  
 **Family.**  
 **Heartbreak.**

 **It'll be a rollercoaster of emotions. Hold on to your handbags.**

 **It's only just beginning.**


	2. Rose

**Hola mis amigos! I've been reading fanfiction for a while and have recently found myself completely and utterly obsessed with the idea of a Time Lady on Doctor Who. While I have many ideas, this is the one that came first and begged to be written. Just imagine a little garden with plot bunnies all hopping round, begging to be let into the rabbit hutch. This is the one that got let in.**

 **Just a warning, I'm a fan of all the Doctor Who companions, but this will be a Mickey!Bashing.**

 **The idea for Star just popped into my head one night and refused to leave. I base her around my best friend, but a bit more wise in terms of the universe and space and time.**

 **Disclaimer: Do I own a fez? Yes. Do I own a Sonic Screwdriver? Yes. Do I own a Tardis? Yes. Do I own Doctor Who? No.**

Rose Tyler looked up, sighing with relief at the announcment that blared out.

" _This is a customer announcement: The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you._ "

As she was about to leave, a security guard rudely waved a packet in her face.

"Oi!"

Rose took the package looking non- too- happy and entered a lift.

When the lift pinged, she alighted in the basement.

"Wilson?" She went further down the corridor. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. _Wilson_?" With a groan Rose knocked on a door that said 'HP Wilson CEO'. "You there? Look, I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop. Wilson! Uhh, come _on_!"

There was a sudden sound further along the corridor. Rose immediately snapped her head in the direction it had come from. Slowly, almost afraid, she began walking in the direction of the sound.

"Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Rose. _Hello_? Wil... Wilson?"

She stopped outside a fire door for a moment, and then opened it, and found herself in a room that looked as though it was used for storing shop dummies. She turned the light on and walked further into the room.

"Wilson? Wilson?"

She tried another door at the side. The fire door through which she entered closed abruptly. Shocked, she ran back and shook the handles, but it would not open. There was small sound from behind her. She turned round, eyes wide.

"Is that someone mucking about?" She went back into the room. "Who is it?"

Behind her, a dummy slowly turned its head of its own accord. Rose turned around just in time to see it step out of its alcove and towards her. She backed away slowly.

"Heh... You got me, very _funny_."

The dummy said nothing and didn't stop advancing. Two more joined it.

"Right, I've got the _joke_! Who's idea was this? Was it Derek's?"

The dummies still advanced. Another came from behind.

"Derek, is it you?"

All of the dummies were alive. Rose backed away, only to trip over a box. She quickly pulled herself up again and backed against a wall. The dummy lifted its arm to strike her. Rose screwed her face up ready for the blow, when a hand grabbed hers. Rose opened her eyes and snapped her head to look at the owner of the hand.

A brunette woman grinned at her, blowing a lock of hair from where it had fallen in her eyes. "Run!"

And so Rose ran.

They ran, just in time, through a fire exit. The dummies were in pursuit. The woman led her into a lift.

The doors closed on one of the dummy's arms. The woman pulled it off and the doors closed.

"You pulled his _arm_ off!" Rose gasped, shellshocked.

"Yep!" She tossed it to her. "Plastic."

"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?" Rose demanded, starting to panic more, realising that the dummies were no longer after them.

"Why would they be students?" The woman asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't know..." Rose muttered, not feeling as sure of herself.

"Well, you _said_ it! Why students?" The woman encouraged, smiling at her.

"'Cause... to get that many people dressed up and being silly... they gotta be students."

The woman grinned. "That makes sense! Well done."

"Thanks." Rose almost smiled...

"They're not students."

...her smile disappeared.

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police."

"Who's Wilson?" The woman asked confused.

"Chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead," the woman told her bluntly.

She stepped out of the lift. Rose followed.

"That's just not funny, that's _sick_!"

"Yes. Yes it is a bit." The woman muttered, glancing at her. "Hold on!" She pushed Rose to the side. "Mind your eyes."

She disabled the lift with a weird silver tube that emitted a dark red light.

"I've had _enough_ of this now!"

The woman visibly rolled her eyes and walked off.

"Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, _who are they_?"

"They're made of plastic," the woman finally told her. "Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have _this_." She held up a bomb, making Rose's eyes widen. "So!" She opened the fire exit for Rose. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast." Rose went through the door. " _Don't_ tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them _killed_." She shut the door.

Rose turned away looking slightly bemused. It opened again.

"I'm the Protector, by the way, what's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose. _Run_ for your life!"

She shut the door again. Rose ran.

Outside, nobody knew what was going on. Rose ran across the road, distracted and nearly got herself run over by a taxi.

"Watch it!"

Rose proceeded to get as far away from the building as possible and looked back just in time to see the top floor blow up. She ran home - past a police box.

~8~

News 24 was on the television. Rose was sat on the sofa, watching it.

" _The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Earlier reports in the..._ "

The dummy's arm was lying on a chair. Jackie walked in holding a phone to her ear. "I know, it's on the telly! It's _everywhere_! She's lucky to be _alive_!" She handed Rose a mug. "Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old _bible_. Walking in now you'd think I was _her_ daughter! Oh and here's himself..."

Mickey appeared in the doorway.

"I've been phoning your mobile, you could've been _dead_! It's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" He hugged her.

"I'm alright, honestly, I'm _fine_! Don't make a fuss."

"Well, what happened?"

She almost told him. Almost. But then her mind went to what the Protector had said. "I don't know!" She lied.

"What was it though, what _caused_ it?" Mickey pressed.

"I wasn't in the shop, I was outside, I didn't see _anything_..."

Jackie walked it, still on the phone. "It's Debbie on the other end, she knows a man from the Mirror. _Five_ _hundred_ quid for an interview!"

"Oh that's brilliant! Give it here!" Rose took the phone and hung it up.

"Well, you've gotta find _some_ way of making money. Your jobs kaput and _I'm_ not bailing you out." The phone rang again, Jackie answering it. "Bev! She's alive!" She left the room, although her voice floated in from the hallway. "I tell ya, sue for compensation! She was within _seconds_ of death..."

Rose rolled her eyes. That was just typical.

"What're you drinking?" Mickey asked, focusing her attention on him. "Tea? No, no no, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock, you need something stronger."

"Why?"

"You deserve a proper drink, you and me, we're going down the pub, my treat. How about it?"

Rose smiled, amused. "Is there a match on?"

"I'm just thinking about you, babe!"

"There's a match on, ain't there."

"Well, that's not the point. We could catch the last five minutes." Mickey tried.

"Go on then. I'm fine, really. Go. Get rid of that..." She gestured to the dummy's arm. Mickey pointed to his lips. Rose gave him a kiss. He pushed her back onto the chair and they laughed. He got up to go and Rose put a leg out to trip him up. Mickey picked up the arm and waved with it.

"Buh Bye!"

"Bye!"

Mickey pretended to strangle himself with the arm and left. Rose shook her head fondly and turned her attention back to the news.

" _... fire then spread throughout the store... there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure..._ "

~8~

Outside, Mickey tossed the arm into a bin as he walked past it.

~8~

Rose's alarm clock began beeping, she'd forgotten to cancel it last night. She hit it, sitting up in the process.

"There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to." Jackie called from a different room.

Rose flopped back on her pillow.

~8~

Rose was having breakfast, her mother talking to her. "There's Finches... You could try them. They've always got jobs."

"Oh, great. The butchers."

"Well it might do you good! That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about getting compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma! Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she IS Greek, but that's not the point, it's a valid claim."

Rose rolled her eyes. That was her mother for sure. Drama Queen.

Hearing a rattling from the hallway, Rose stood up. "Mum, you're such a liar, I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays!"

"I did it weeks back!" Jackie protested.

"No, you thought about it!" Rose retorted, only to freeze as she saw screws fallen on the floor.

The cat flap moved violently. Rose lept backwards, then went back again and poked the cat flap open gingerly. The Protector's face was right outside it. Rose gasped and opened the door.

"What're you doing here?" The woman asked.

"I live here." Rose replied, genuinely shocked.

"Well, what do you do that for?"

" _Because I do_! And I'm only at home because _someone_ blew up my _job_."

The Protector got out her tube thing, rolling her eyes. "Must've got the wrong signal," she muttered. "You're not plastic, are you?" She knocked on Rose's forehead, the girl gaping. "No, bonehead. Bye, then!"

She made to go, but Rose pulled her back inside. "You, inside. Right now." She shut the door.

"Who is it?" Jackie called from her bedroom.

Rose poked her head into Jackie's bedroom. "It's about last night, she's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes."

"She deserves compensation." Jackie announced.

"Huh, we're talking _millions_." The Protector leant against the doorframe, waiting for Rose to come back. Jackie looked at her for a moment and stood up, flirtatiously.

"I'm in my dressing gown."

"Yes, you are." The Protector nodded.

"There's a strange woman in my _bedroom_."

"Yes, there is." She agreed.

"Well, _anything_ could happen."

"Yeah..." the Protector furrowed her brow. "I'm _married_. It's never gonna happen." She smiled tightly and walked off.

Jackie pulled a face at her back.

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" Rose asked.

The Protector screwed her face up shaking her head. "God, _no_! Thanks anyway. I'll have a tea though. Just milk."

Rose went into the kitchen and started making tea. "We should go to the _police_. Seriously. _Both_ of us."

The Protector picked up a gossip magazine. " _That_ won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."

"I'm not blaming you, even if it _was_ just some sort of joke that went wrong." Rose continued, not realising that the Protector was paying absolutely no attention to her.

Instead the woman picked up a book and flicked through it. "Hmm. Sad ending."

"They said on the news they'd found a body."

The Protector picked up an envelope and read it. "Rose Tyler." She looked in a mirror. "Ahh, could've been _worse_!" She tugged her hair, unsure about it. "Look at me' hair. Still. _Liss_ doesn't seem to mind."

"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke."

The Protector shuffled a pack of cards. "Luck be a lady!"

"Well anyway if we _are_ going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm _saying_."

The Protector shuffled the cards again and managed to make them all go flying. She winced. "Oops."

"I want you to explain everything."

"Maybe not." She sighed, then looked round as she heard a scuffling from behind sofa. "What's that then? You got a cat?"

"No..."

The Protector leant behind the sofa and the dummy's arm lept out and grabbed her by the neck.

Rose wandered in with tea, not seeming to notice the Protector struggling to breathe. "We did have, but there's these strays, they come in off the estate..."

Behind her, the Protector was being strangled viciously by the hand while she tries vainly to fight it off. Rose didn't quite seem to register that the Protector was being harassed by a rubber hand.

"I told Mickey to chuck that out..." She put the tea down on the table. "Honestly, give a person a plastic hand... anyway, I don't even know your name, Protector... what was it?"

The Protector managed to throw the hand off and it flew across the room attaching itself to Rose's face. She screamed and the Protector cursed, leaping up and trying to pull it off.

Jackie was drying her hair, completely oblivious.

The Protector and Rose crashed onto the coffee table, breaking it, and rolled onto the floor. The Protector pushed her back onto the sofa and got out her tube thing, disabling the hand.

"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" She tossed it to Rose. "'Armless."

"Do you think?" Rose snapped, using it to whack her on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

~8~

The Protector was running down the stairs, Rose hot on her tail.

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off," Rose complained.

"Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" She waved, continuing to go down the stairs.

"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!"

"Ten out of ten for observation," the Protector rolled her eyes.

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on."

"No I don't," the Protector rolled her eyes again. She seemed to do that a lot.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and went through the doors.

"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking."

The Protector turned and glared at her, eyes narrowed. "Don't you _dare_ do that," she snarled, Rose stumbling back in fear. "Ever. It is not funny. It is not _ever_ funny to say things like that. People dying is not a thing to say stuff like that about." She span on her heel and continued to stalk off.

Rose stared after her a moment before following. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Was that supposed to sound tough, by the way?"

"Sort of," the blonde admitted.

"Well it didn't work." The Protector informed.

"Who _are_ you?"

"I told you! The Protector."

"Yeah. But Protector what?" Rose questioned.

"Just the Protector."

"The Protector," Rose repeated slowly.

"Hello!" She waved, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Sort of," the Protector shrugged.

"Come on. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home," the Protector admittted with a sigh.

"But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?" Rose asked, well, almost whined really.

"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you!" The Protector exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "You were just an accident, you got in the way, that's all."

"It tried to kill me!" Rose defended herself.

"It was after _me_ , not _you_! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you _blundered_ in. Almost _ruined_ the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down... the _only_ reason it fixed on _you_ is that you met _me_."

"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." Rose stated.

"Sort of, yeah," the Protector shrugged.

"You're full of it!"

"Sort of, yeah," she repeated.

"But, all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?"

The Protector was silent for a moment, almost as if contemplating something, before she shook her head. "No one."

"What, you're on your own?"

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!"

Rose took the arm off her. "Okay, start from the beginning."

"If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even _believe_ that, but if we do... how did you kill it?"

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's radio control?" Rose guessed.

"Thought control." The Protector corrected. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story."

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?"

They laughed.

"No," the Protector deadpanned.

"I know."

"It's not a price war." The laughed again. The Protector was suddenly serious. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

"No." Rose shook her head.

"But you're still listening." The Protector pointed out.

She stopped. The Protector walked on.

"Really though, Protector. Tell me. Who are you?"

The woman stopped. "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" She walked back to her. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." She took her hand. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." the Protector dramatically let go of her hand. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler." She took the arm and waved it in her face. "Go home."

She walked away. Rose watched her retreating back and then started to walk herself. The Protector stepped into a police box. Rose heard the sound of it departing. She ran back as fast as she could. The police box was gone. She shielded her eyes from the sun, looked around her, then walked away again.

~8~

Mickey let Rose in to his house. "Yahey, there's my woman!" He slapped her bum. "Kit off!"

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes. He gave her a kiss. "Mwah!"

"Coffee?" Mickey suggested

"Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean _rinse_ , I mean _wash_. Can I use your computer?" Rose asked changing the subject.

"Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom," he teased.

Mickey went into the kitchen as his girlfriend rolled her eyes. Rose closed the door of his bedroom behind her.

"Don't read my emails!" He suddenly called.

Rose turned on the computer and types " _the Protector_ " into a search engine. No relevant results were found. She typed in " _Protector Living Plastic_ ". Still nothing. She typed " _Protector Blue Box_ ". The first result read " _Protector Who - do you know this woman? Contact Clive here..._ " She clicked on it and a webpage with a blurry photograph of the Protector and the words " _Have you seen this woman? Contact Clive_ " were presented to her. She clicked " _Contact Clive_ ".

~8~

Mickey and Rose were sitting in the car.

"You're not coming in! He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." Rose argued.

"Yeah but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an Internet lunatic murderer would say." Mickey retorted.

Rose cringed knowing he was right but got out of the car anyway, grinning. Mickey didn't look too happy, and gave a man putting out his rubbish the evils.

Rose knocked on the door of a house and it was answered by a boy of about 11.

"Uh, hello, I've come to see Clive? We've been emailing."

"Dad! It's one of your nutters!" The boy called, before walking away. Rose frowned slightly.

Clive appeared. "Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose. I'm Clive. Obviously!"

"I better tell you now, my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill me!" Rose joked.

They laughed.

"No, good point. No murders." He waved to Mickey who nodded, still distrustful.

"Who is it?" A woman called down from upstairs.

"Oh it's something to do with the Protector!" The woman growled, clearly annoyed at the mention of the woman. "She's been reading the website. Please come through, I'm in the shed."

Clive's wife, Caroline, came down the stairs carrying a washing basket. "She? She read a website about the Protector? She's a she?"

She smiled ironically and shut the door. Mickey looked suspicious.

~8~

Clive was showing Rose around the shed, which was a sort of shrine to the Protector.

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you." He explained. "People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough - keep a lively mind - this Protector keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No last name. Just "the Protector". Always the Protector. And the name seems to have been passed down from mother to daughter, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Protector there, isn't it?"

He pointed to a photo of the Protector on a computer screen behind them.

"Yeah."

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original..." He showed Rose some photographs of the Protector standing in a crowd at the time and place of the assassination of JFK. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy."

"Must be her mother..."

"Going further back... April 1912." Clive brought over a photo album. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to the Protector, standing with them. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And..." He showed her a sketch. "1883. Another Protector. And look - the same lineage. She's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Protector is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, she's there. She has a storm in her wake. And she has one constant companion."

"Who's that?" Rose asked, almost afraid of the tone of voice.

"Death." Clive replied, dead serious.

~8~

Mickey was still waiting outside in his car. He looked around as a bin started to shuffle its way towards him.

~8~

"If the Protector's back... if you've seen her, Rose... then one thing's for certain, we're all in danger."

~8~

Mickey looked at the bin again, but it was stationary. A few seconds later, it started moving again. He got out of the car and walked to the bin, looking around it to see what was moving it. Seeing nothing, he placed both hands on the lid and opened it dramatically.

"Come on then!"

The bin was empty.

~8~

"If she's singled you out... If the Protector's making house calls... then God help you."

~8~

Mickey shut the bin, confused. He tried to walk away but his hands were stuck to the bin. When he tried to pull away, the bin stretched and wouldn't let him. Eventually, the bin opened its lid and pulled him in backwards, shutting with a satisfied burp.

~8~

"Who is she? Who do you think she is?" Rose asked frantically.

"I think she's the same woman. I think she's immortal. I think she's an alien from another world."

~8~

Rose went back to the car, talking before she'd even got in. "Alright! He's a nutter! Off his head! _Complete_ online conspiracy freak. You win! Oof." She got into the car. The person sitting at the wheel was obviously not Mickey, but a plastic replica of him. Rose seemed not to notice. "What're we going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza."

"Pizzaaa! P-p-p-pizza!"

"...or a Chinese..."

"Pizza!"

They drove off in a wobbly line.

~8~

Rose and 'Mickey' sat at a table for two in a restaurant.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then... dishing out chips... I could do A Levels..." 'Mickey' stared at her, his face in a permanent grin. "I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up. What do you think?"

"So, where did you meet this Protector?"

"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Rose asked, taken aback.

"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is she something to do with that?"

"No..."

"Come on." 'Mickey' urged.

"Sort of," Rose admitted slowly, not really wanting to.

"What was she doing there?"

"I'm not going on about her, Mickey, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but... I don't think she's safe. I think she's dangerous."

"But you can trust me sweetheart! Babe, sugar, darling, sugar." Rose looked confused. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Protector and what she's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart."

"What're you doing that for?"

A waitress approached the table. "Your champagne."

"We didn't order any champagne." 'Mickey' brushed her off, grabbing Rose's hand. "Where's the Protector?"

The waitress simply moved to the other side of the table and held the bottle out to Rose. "Ma'am. Your champagne."

"It's not ours..." Rose waved her off. "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is she?"

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" The waitress asked annoyed, a northern accent shining through. Rose frowned, recognising the voice.

'Mickey', exasperated, raised his eyes to the waitress for the first time. "Look, we didn't order i..." The waitress was in fact the Protector. "Ah. Gotcha."

The woman shook the bottle. "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!"

The cork popped out and hit 'Mickey' squarely on the forehead. His forehead absorbed the cork and he spat it out of his mouth. It was finally revealed to Rose that Mickey had in fact been replaced.

"Anyway." His hands turned into clubs and he smashed the table in. Rose screamed and ran out of the way. The Protector grabbed the 'Mickey's' head and pulled it off. "Don't think that's gonna stop me."

A couple at a nearby table screamed, but the Protector grinned. Rose pressed the fire bell. "Everyone out! Out now!" Everyone ran for the exit. 'Mickey's' body stayed inside, blindly smashing tables with his club-hands. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Rose and the Protector ran through the kitchen and out of a back exit with the body in hot pursuit.

The Protector locked a metal door with her stick thing and began walking calmly over to a 1960s police box while Rose tried desperately to find an escape out of the yard they are in. She banged desperately at some locked gates. "Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!

"What, this? This is a sonic screwdriver." The Protector grinned and waggled it.

"Use it!" Rose demanded.

"Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here." She approached the police box in the middle of the yard and unlocked it. The body was beginning to make dents in the door from the other side. Rose ran to look at the box.

"We can't hide inside a wooden box!" She yelled, almost starting to panic, before running to the gate and rattling the chains. "It's gonna get us! Protector!"

She ran into the police box.

Rose slammed the door behind her, and took a few steps in, looking around.

The inside was... _impossibly_ bigger than the outside.

Rose swallowed and then ran straight back out again.

She walked once around the police box and arrived back at the front again. The body finally made a hole in the door, so she ran back into the police box.

"It's gonna follow us!" She yelled, ignoring the size for now.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried." The Protector brushed her off. "Now, shut up a minute." Rose stood trembling near the door of the police box, looking around at how huge it was compared with the outside. The Protector was wiring up the head of 'Mickey'. "You see, the arm is too simple, but the head's perfect." Rose still looked overwhelmed. "I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right." She turned to Rose, giving her her full attention. "Where do you want to start?"

"Um... the inside's bigger than the outside?" Rose asked tentatively.

"Yes." The Protector nodded.

"It's alien," Rose noted.

"Yup."

"Are you alien?"

"Yes." Rose stared at her, shocked. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah."

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Rose let out a sob, everything finally getting to her. The Protector left what she was doing at the console and walked over, pulling the teenager into a tight hug.

"I know sweetheart," she murmured, "I know." Rose instinctively leant into her, the woman caressing her hair in comfort. "He'll be alive sweetie. They won't have killed him. And if they did then I will destroy them. Nobody's gonna die."

Rose nodded weakly, trusting the woman from nowhere, sniffing slightly. "Thanks," she mumbled, her eyes going over to where the fake head was. "Protector, is his head supposed to be melting?"

"Melt?" Her eyes widened and she span round, letting go of Rose. 'Mickey's' head was melting on the console with a bubbling noise. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

She ran over and started running frantically around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"What're you doing?!" Rose asked, eyes wide.

"Reviving the signal, it's fading! Wait I've got it..." She looked at a screen. "No, No, No, No, No, No, NO!" The TARDIS shook as the engines moved. "Almost there! Almost there! Here we go!"

The engines stopped and the Protector ran out the the TARDIS doors without another word.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose called, worried about the woman, following her outside.

"I lost the signal," the Protector breathed, "I got so close."

Rose hopped out of the TARDIS, looking confused again. "We've moved!" She realised. "Does it fly?"

"Disappears there, reappears here, I'll explain later."

"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose. What if people get hurt?"

The Protector smiled softly, glad that the girl was worried for the safety of other people. She could be a good person to travel with... No. No, she had Liss to worry about, she couldn't take another companion, it was too soon... She frowned slightly, then shook her head.

"It melted with the head," she told Rose gently. "Are you all right?"

"If he is dead, I'll have to tell his mother..." Rose said quietly.

The Protector looked at her sadly.

"I'll have to tell his mother he's dead! I- I can't _do_ that!"

"You _can_ , Rose Tyler, if ou really have to, you can do anything. But I promise you, there will be no telling his mother that he's dead. I will save Mickey, I promise."

Rose nodded, smiling sadly and turned to walk away. "If you are an alien, then how comes you sound like you're from the North?" She asked changing the subject.

"Lots of planets have a North," the Protector replied, a fake indignant look on her face as she watched Rose knowingly.

"What's a police public call box?" The blonde asked curiously.

The Protector smiled, walking over to the box. "It's a telephone box from the 1950s." She patted the TARDIS fondly, grinning. "It's a disguise."

Rose smiled and shook her head, seeing a slightly wistful look come over the woman's face.

"Okay. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?"

"Nothing actually, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the..." she swallowed, "...in the War, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner."

"Any way of stopping it?" Rose asked, seeing that the Protector didn't want to talk about the War.

Smiling gratefully, the Protector produced a tube of blue liquid from her jacket. "Anti-plastic!"

"Anti-plastic..." Rose muttered sceptically.

"Anti-plastic!" The Protector agreed with a grin. "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" She ran a hand through her hair.

"Hold on... hide what?"

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What's it look like?" Rose asked, searhing with her eyes.

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." She paced around, agitated, looking around for a clue. "A huge circular metal structure... like a dish..." She stood facing Rose, her back to the railings of the bridge. Behind her, the London Eye loomed 450 foot above them, but she didn't seem to register. "...like a wheel. Close to where we're standing. Must be _completely_ invisible." Rose considered the Eye behind her. "What?"

Rose nodded towards the Eye. The Protector turned around, then back to her, completely nonplussed. "What?" Rose shook her head, looking at the Eye still. She turned around but still failed to make the connection. "What is it? What?" Rose simply carried on staring at it. The Protector turned around again, then turned back still completely confused. "I don't get it. What is it?"

Rose raised her eyebrows and walked forwards. "And they call me the oblivious one," she muttered, turning the Protector around forcefully and moving her head so that she was staring directly at the London Eye.

"Nope. Still not getting it," the Protector frowned, depsite staring at the London Eye.

Rose sighed and silently counted to ten. "Two words Protector. London Eye."

A look of realisation came across the alien woman's face.

"Oh... fantastic!" The woman grinned insanely, pulled away, smacked a kiss on Rose's forehead and ran off, grabbing the teenager's wrist as she did so.

~8~

Hand in hand, the Protector and Rose ran across London Bridge towards the Eye.

They came to a halt at the foot of the Eye, the Protector practically bouncing with excitement. "Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."

"The breast implants..." Rose muttered, making the Protector snort.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." She turned away, looking round, while Rose ran off and looked over a wall, seeing a manhole.

"What about down here?"

The Protector spun around and grinned widely, running over to see. "Looks good to me."

They ran down the stairs to the manhole. The Protector took the lid off it, and red light and smoke poured out. They both climbed down the ladder underground.

The Protector opened the door to another chamber and they went down some steps. The Protector pointed to a huge, orange, wobbling mass in the middle of the chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go."

"I'm not here to kill it," the Protector shook her head. "I've got to give it a chance Rose."

"Sorry."

"I know."

They went down some more steps. The Protector leant over the railings and addressed the Consciouness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

The Consciouness flobbled around a bit.

"Thank you. That I might have permission to approach."

Rose paced around, worried for the woman she'd just met, when she spotted Mickey and ran to him. The Protector grinned.

"Oh, my God! Mickey! It's okay! It's alright!" Rose ran and squatted down next to him.

"That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!" Mickey exclaimed, panicking.

"You're stinking! Protector, they kept him alive! You were right!"

"See? I told you they would."

Rose helped Mickey to his feet, as the Protector approached the Consciousness. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

The plastic globbered angrily as Rose shook her head. The Protector rolled her eyes.

"Oh don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!"

The plastic reared angrily.

"I... am... talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go."

Two Autons approached the Protector from behind.

"Tori!" Rose yelled out, but it was too late.

The Autons grabbed her. One of them took the anti-plastic out of her cardigan pocket.

"That was just insurance! I wasn't going to USE it." The Protector exclaimed, starting to worry a bit.

The plastic globbered angrily.

"I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?"

Doors above them opened to reveal the TARDIS. The Protector's eyes widened and her heart stopped. No, no, no, no. Star...Star was in there!

"Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship."

The plastic roared.

"That's not true!" The Protector exclaimed, fighting back tears. "I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them! I could barely save-"

"What's it doing?!" Rose yelled over the noise.

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it! Now!"

Rose pulled out her phone, only for it to suddenly go flying. "What?" She looked up to see the Protector glaring at her.

"Get out Rose! For Gods sake! I have lost _too many_ people, I am _not_ losing you as well, so for Gods sake, _get out_!" The woman yelled.

Rose hesitated for a moment, then nodded and pulled Mickey to his feet, runinng up the stairs, seconds before they collapsed.

~8~

Jackie headed into the Queens Arcade shopping centre.

~8~

The Consciousness sent out a signal.

"It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" The Protector gasped.

~8~

The electric blue signal shot around the Eye. Rose gasped and ducked to the floor.

"The end of the world..."

The activation signal transmitted from the London Eye.

~8~

Clive was in the shopping centre, talking to his wife. "There's no point creating a spreadsheet if you're going to spend summer money in winter months."

Caroline gasped as she walked past a shop window and the dummy tapped the glass. "Oh my God! I thought they were dummies! I nearly had a heart-attack!"

They looked around and all the dummies were doing the same. Clive's wife smiled appreciatively... until they punched their way through the glass and stepped out of the windows. Jackie was coming down an escalator and looked in disbelief at the dummies walking around.

"It's true. Everything I read, all the stories! It's all true!" Clive gasped.

A dummy turned towards him. Its hand came off and revealed a gun, which shot out...

...only for Clive to get sent flying, pushed out of the way. He looked up to see a little girl, barely older than eight grinning at him. "Hey Clive," she said with a smile, "get rid of all that stuff you have about the Protector, yeah? My Mother's a dnagerous woman, and sooner or later it'll get you killed. Good man."

She patted his shoulder, got to her feet and ran off.

Clive stared after her, confused, before his eyes widened in realisation.

~8~

The Protector was still being held hostage. She closed her eyes, concentrating.

~8~

The shopping centre was in chaos. Jackie stood at the bottom of the escalator looking confused for a few seconds, then screamed and ran, dropping her shopping bag.

Outside, Jackie found that there was just as much chaos outside the shopping centre as there was inside. An army of dummies came out of the doors. Jackie ran down the road and ducked behind a car outside a wedding shop. The dummies in the window punched through the glass. Jackie screamed.

~8~

The Protector cringed as the dummies holding her began to melt, gasping as the hot plastic melted quickly on her skin.

~8~

The wedding dummies advanced dangerously on Jackie. All three held their arms out ready to shoot.

~8~

"I ain't special," the Protector muttered to herself.

~8~

The dummies raised their guns, Jackie screaming.

~8~

"I don't have a home."

~8~

The hands opened to reveal the space where the bullets can be released.

~8~

"I don't have money. I don't have many friends."

~8~

Jackie cowered.

~8~

"But there is one thing I've got." Her hands lit on fire, the dummies melting into goop. The Consciousness shrieked as she hurled the anti-plastic into it. "I've got a daughter to protect!"

The Consciousness started to explode as she ran off. The signal from the Eye was cut off.

~8~

The Autons in the high street that were previously attacking people, stopped, and started to twitch as if they were doing some kind of dance. Jackie uncovered her eyes warily.

~8~

The Protector managed to reach the TARDIS, grabbing Rose's phone on the way. She grinned at the Consciousness before she went in and closed the door, as it started to die. Just before the whole chamber went up in flames, the TARDIS disappeared.

~8~

The dummies all fell to the ground, twitching at first, but dead.

~8~

Rose leant against a bin, Mickey leaning against her legs, as she watched the Tardis materialize with a smirk.

The Protector stepped out, now wearing a black leather jacket, and threw the blonde her phone, Rose catching it and ringing her mother.

"Rose! Rose! Don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" Jackie answered loudly.

Rose laughed in relief to hear Jackie's voice.

"There were all of these things! And they were shooting! And they..."

Satisfied that Jackie was alive, Rose hung up on her, smiling to herself.

"Hello? Hello?"

Rose walked over to the Protector. "How'd you get out of there in the end?" She asked.

"Fire and plastic do not mix," was all the woman answered, smiling cryptically. Rose laughed, shaking her head. "Well, I've gotta start going. Unless, uh... I don't know...you _could_ come with me. If you wanted to." Rose looked at her and put her hands in her pockets. "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

"Don't! She's an alien! She's a thing!" Mickey yelled.

"He's NOT invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere."

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked, smiling.

"Yup."

Mickey put his arms around Rose's legs like a little child. "Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump..." she gave a small laugh, patting Mickey on the back. "So..."

"Okay. See you around."

Rose looked at her intensely, as if she still hadn't really made up her mind. The Protector did not take her eyes off her, but closed the door. Rose looked at the closed door. The engines of the TARDIS revved up, and it slowly disappeared. Rose stared at the space where it was, lost in thought.

"Come on, let's go." Mickey was in absolute shock, staring at the empty space where the TARDIS stood. "C'mon... come on..."

She helped him to his feet and they began to walk away.

Suddenly a little girl ran round the corner, bumping into Rose. "Is she gone?" The girl asked quickly. "Did the TARDIS leave?"

Rose nodded at first, however, the sound of the engines is heard again. The girl grinned and bounced excitedly on her feet. Rose and Mickey spun around. The TARDIS reappeared and the Protector popped her head out.

"By the way...have you seen a little- Oh, there you are. Liss, what have I told you about leaving the TARDIS without telling me?"

"I left a note!" The girl protested.

"Inside!" The Protector laughed, the girl sticking her tongue out and walking into the TARDIS. The Protector shook her head. "Kids. Anyway. Did I mention, it also travels in time?"

She grinned and went back in, leaving the door ajar. Rose turned to Mickey. The girl shocked her a bit, but she didn't care. "Thanks."

"Thanks for what?"

"Exactly."

She kissed his cheek and ran into the TARDIS with a broad smile on her face.

 **A.N: There you have it, the first chapter. Rose has joined the TARDIS and the Protector's a little more oblivious that the Doctor. Also a bit more compassionate.**

 **Also, yay! Clive is alive! And we get to see some of the Protector's special abilities here. I picture the Protector to look somewhat like Hetty Abbott, her hair in a slightly more choppy cut. We'll get some more insight into the Protector's abilities in the next episode.**

 **That's all for now folks!**


	3. A Treasure

The Protector grinned widely as Rose ran in. The blonde grinned back. "Before we go, you should probably meet Liss properly. She'll be here... right... about... now!"

At exactly that second the little girl from before slid down one of the beams and hung upside down in front of Rose. "Hello!"

Rose stared at her for a moment. "Uh...hi?"

The girl giggled. "I'm Staretalicia, are you Mummy's new companion?"

Rose looked over at the Protector who nodded with a grin. "Er, yeah. Yeah, I'm Rose."

"Nice to meet you Rose!" Staretalicia grinned, swinging backwards, gaining more height as she swung back and forth, causing Rose to walk backwards out of her way, before she let go of the beam, and twisted around so that she landed on her feet, bending her knees slightly, arms out, wide grin on her face.

"You've been practicing," the Protector commented idly as Rose gaped.

Staretalicia shrugged. "Yeah."

"Looked nice, keep at it."

"Will do, Mummy."

Rose smiled as she saw the Protector's grin get bigger, Staretalicia not seeming to notice. She could tell that the Protector really did love her daughter, but at the same time was almost afraid and shocked that she was there. Something had happened to them and the Protector treasured her daughter all the more for that.

"Well," she began with a grin, "you call this cutie Liss, right?" The Protector nodded. "Well I'm not going to nick your nickname. What do you think of Ali?"

Staretalicia grinned. "I like that. Most people usually just call me Star, except Mummy. She calls me Lissi."

"So you'll stay?" The Protector asked, almost nervously.

Rose turned and stared at her. "How could I leave this little cutie? Course I'm staying."

The Protector and Star both grinned. "Hey, you called me Tori," the Protector realised.

Rose shrugged. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

"You said you'd explain how the TARDIS worked to me," Rose remembered suddenly.

"I'll let Liss take this one," the Protector grinned.

"The TARDIS moves as a bubble of space-time back and forth along a loop of time. If you connect a bunch of those loops, then the TARDIS could move to any point in space and time." Star explained, her eyes lighting up as she explained, fully in her element. She didn't notice the way the Protector watched her with pride. "So it's Traversable Achronal Retrograde Domains in Spacetime. Einstein's theory of general relativity tells us that space and time are not separate - they're wrapped up in four dimensions. There are three dimensions of space (up-down, left-right, and forward-backward) and the dimension of time (future-past). Together they combine to create the fabric of space-time in which all the matter in the universe exists.

Massive objects, like stars and galaxies, stretch and curve this fabric into themselves. Physicists don't really know how space-time warps, but it's theoretically possible to fold one of those curves back on itself, creating what's called a closed time-like curver (CTC).

It's basically a loop.

The objects inside the loop are called light cones. Light cones mark the boundaries of space-time that any one event (like the burst of light from a supernova explosion) can reach.

If a star exploded 10 light-years away from you, then it would take 10 years for light from that event to reach you.

The only way to get outside of a light cone is by traveling _faster than the speed of light_. Normally light cones are arranged in a straight line, because time moves in a straight line. But CTCs tip light-cones making it possible to travel backward _and_ forward in time.

If the TARDIS/bubble of space-time entered into one of those loops, it would be possible to travel backward and forward through space and time."

Rose gaped at Star for a long moment, stunned speechless. "...I- I think I actually understood some of that," she finally managed to say.

"Well," the Protector called from over by the console. "What are we waiting for?"

 **A.N: So Rose is properly aboard the TARDIS and we've met Star properly. Very intelligent little girl it seems, rather cute too. Already got some nicknames from Rose.**

 **I picture Star to look like a younger Ella Anderson.**


	4. End Of The World

"Right then, Rose Tyler, you tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. What's it going to be?" The Protector asked grinning as Star ran up to join her by the console.

"Forwards." Rose replied quickly.

The Protector pressed a few buttons and gestured for Star to pull a lever. "How far?"

"One hundred years."

Star crinkled her nose in distaste but pulled another lever, while the Protector turned a knob. The engine lurched and then stopped after a few seconds. "There you go," Star told her.

"Step outside those doors, it's the twenty-second century," the Protector added.

"You're kidding."

"That's a bit boring though, do you want to go further?" Star grinned at her.

"Fine by me!"

The Protector started up the engines again. When they stopped, she looked over at her with a grin. "Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, which is...Star?"

"The New Roman Empire!" Star high-fived her mother with a grin.

"You think you're _so_ impressive." Rose teased, shaking her head with a laugh.

"We ARE so impressive!" The Protector replied with a smirk. Star poked her tongue out at Rose.

"You wish!" Rose laughed.

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go." The Protector revved up the engine and pumped a lever furiously. "Hold on!"

The TARDIS hurled through the time vortex. With a pinging noise, the TARDIS stops. "Where are we?" Rose asked gleefully. The Protector gestured to the door. "What's out there?"

Star gestured this time. Rose stepped outside the doors, Star close on her heels.

~8~

Rose found herself in some kind of wooden room. The Protector followed her and with her sonic screwdriver, opened the shutters of an enormous window. They went down the stairs and found themselves looking down on the planet Earth.

"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year 5.5/apple/26. Five billion years in your future. This is the day... hold on..." she looked at her gold watch, Rose catching sight of a silver charm bracelet. "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

"Oh Mummy," Star sighed, shaking her head.

~8~

Star looked up as a computerised voice rang out. " _Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite_."

She shrugged to herself and ran to join Rose and the Protector who were walking down a corridor.

"So, when it says 'guests' does that mean people?" Rose asked them as they walked along.

"Depends what you mean by people," the Protector shrugged, reaching out to take Star's hand.

"I mean _people_. What do you mean?"

"Aliens," Star sang grabbing her hand.

"What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"

The Protector started to open a door with her sonic screwdriver. "It's not really a spaceship," she explained.

"More like an observation deck," Star agreed.

"The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn," the Protector finished.

"What for?" Rose asked confused.

"Fun," the pair answered simply.

They entered a large observation gallery. "Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich," the Protector pointed out.

"But, hold on, they did this once on "Newsround Extra", the sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years."

"Yeah, millions," Star nodded. "But the planet's now property of the National Trust, see. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" She pointed out of the window at tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth. "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun."

Rose peered out of the window at the Earth. "The planet looks the same as ever. I thought the continents shifted and things."

"Oh, they did," Star laughed.

"And the trust shifted them back," the Protector told her. "That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over!"

"How long has it got, Mummy?" Star asked, leaning on the window.

The Protector looked at her watch. "About half an hour. And the planet gets roasted."

"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?" Rose asked, smiling at the thought.

"We're not saving it. It time's up." The Protector told her calmly.

"But what about the people?" The blonde gasped.

"It's empty!" Star explained. "They're all gone. They all left."

Rose looked back to the window, realization spreading across her face. "Just me then."

"You have us," Star grinned and Rose smiled, picking the small girl up.

"And you've got me," she told her, kissing her nose. She looked at the Protector. " _Both_ of you."

The Protector grinned widely.

"Who the hell are you?"

The three turned round to see a blue man hurrying towards them, glaring.

"Oh! That's nice, thanks," the Protector narrowed her eyes at him.

"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!"

"That's us, we're guests, look! We've got an invitation!" She flashed a small leather wallet at the Steward. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Protector and Star plus one. I'm the Protector, this is my daughter Star and this is Rose Tyler. She's my plus one. That all right?"

"Well... obviously." The Protector grinned. "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on-board, we'd better start. Enjoy."

The Protector nodded at him. After the steward had walked off, the Protector showed Rose the card she had flashed at the steward. It was completely blank.

"The paper's slightly psychic," Star grinned.

"Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." The Protector added.

"He's blue," Rose muttered.

"Yeah."

"Yup."

"Okay..."

The steward was now speaking through a microphone at the other end of the suite. "We have in attendance, the Protector, Star and Rose Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions."

He clapped his hands and a lot of little blue people - the staff - started scurrying around.

"Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along! And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have Trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."

Three trees, Jabe, Lute and Coffa, walked through the doors.

"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon."

The Protector smiled cheerily, as Rose looked on bewildered. Star bounced excitedly, watching the entrance of all the guests.

"And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme."

The Protector chuckled at the look on Rose's face.

"The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you! Cal 'Spark Plug'. Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light."

Jabe approached the Protector, Star and Rose. Either side of her, her companions were holding plant trays with little shoots in them. "The Gift of Peace." She took a cutting and handed it to the Protector. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."

"Thank you!" She gave it to Rose. "Yes, gifts... erm..." she cleared her throat and started feeling her jacket for something, finding nothing. Suddenly she turned and pulled strands of hair from Rose's head, the teenager yelping. "I give you in return, a cutting of my companion."

The Protector had a grin on her face as she turned away, only to find both Rose and Star glaring at her.

"That wasn't very nice, mummy," Star folded her arms.

"What was I supposed to do? Blow on her? That would be like kissing her," the Protector complained.

"Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe."

A huge head in an equally huge jar was wheeled through the doors. The Moxx of Balhoon approached the Protector, Star and Rose.

"The Moxx of Balhoon," Star greeted.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva."

The Protector dodged and he spat accurately into Rose's left eye.

"Thank you very much," the Protector laughed.

Rose rubbed the spit out of her eye. Next, the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approached them.

"Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you a cutting of my companion," she pulled hairs from Rose's head and handed them to the Adherents.

"A gift of peace in all good faith." One held out a large silver egg, which the Protector took, threw up into the air, caught and then handed it to Star, who began throwing it up and catching it.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multiforms. Consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth The Last Human."

The Protector looked at Rose to see her reaction. The sliding doors opened and what looks like a vertical trampoline made of human skin was wheeled through. It had eyes and a mouth, and wore lipstick.

"The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Star snorted and turned to bury her head in the Protector's waist, so as to stifle her laughter.

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am."

The Protector laughed silently, stroking her daughter's hair, the girl shaking with laughter. Rose gaped, completely shocked.

"Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the two men in white body suits who wheeled her in was holding a canister, which he sprayed onto Cassandra. "Truly, I am The Last Human." Rose crept closer for a better look, Star going with her. "My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil." Rose had been walking around to the other side of Cassandra, to get a good view of her from all angles. She was completely flat. "I have come to honour them and..." she sniffed "...say goodbye. Oh, no tears." A bodyguard wiped her eyes. "No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg." One of the staff came in and displayed the egg to the room. "Legend says it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils." Rose looked mildly confused as Star sniggered. "Or was that my third husband?"

Rose rolled her eyes but the Protector laughed. Star just tilted her head to the side and, for the first time since she'd met her, Rose saw a slightly confused look on her face. "Rose," Star whispered, tugging on Rose's top. "Rose, why would her third husband have wings and blow fire? Wouldn't he have been human?"

It was Rose's turn to snort. "Oh sweetie, you'll understand when you're older."

"Who knows! Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" She laughed and mumbled to herself for a few seconds. Behind her, a large jukebox was wheeled into the room. "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers."

"Isn't that a jukebox?" Star whispered, completely and utterly confused now. Rose nodded, looking amazed.

"Play on!" Cassandra commanded.

One of the staff pressed a button and a record fell into place. The 'iPod' started playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. The Protector bopped around appreciatively, while Star just seemed even more perplexed. "Is that classical?" She muttered to Rose.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." The steward told them.

Rose had a lost, overwhelmed expression on her face. Everywhere she looked there were aliens, but no other humans. She rushed from the gallery, Star chasing after her. Concerned, the Protector started to follow them, but was stopped by Jabe.

"Protector?" She snapped a photo of her when she paused. "Thank you."

The Protector proceeded on. Jabe walked in the opposite direction.

~8~

Rose, in another part of the ship, looked out of a window at the raging sun. Star leant on the window, humming softly. Rose jumped when another one of the staff came into the room, this one female.

"Sorry, are we allowed to be in here?" Rose asked nervously.

The employee looked around uneasily. "You have to give us permission to talk." She looked at Rose expectantly. Rose looked unsure.

"Uh... you... have permission...?" Rose stammered. Star moved over to join them, looking quite upset by the fact she needed permission.

"Thank you! And, no. You're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere." The employee smiled.

"'Kay."

The employee went to a panel in the wall and entered a code. Star and Rose watched her. "What's your name?" Star asked with a smile.

"Raffalo."

"Raffalo?" Rose asked.

"Yes, Miss. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance." She knelt before an air vent. "There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Boe suite. There must be something blocking the system - he's not getting any hot water."

"So, you're a plumber?" Star grinned excitedly.

"That's right, Miss." Raffalo nodded.

"They still have plumbers?" Rose asked.

"I hope so! Else I'm out of a job!"

Rose laughed. "Where are you from?"

"Crespallion."

"That's a planet, is it?"

"Nope," Star answered, shaking her head. "Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56."

"And where are you from, Misses?" Raffalo asked, before seeming to remember herself. "If you don't mind me asking."

Star's smile slid off her face and she shook her head. "Around," she answered vaguely.

"Not at all. Erm... I dunno, a long way away... I just sort of, hitched a lift with this woman and her daughter." She frowned slightly. "I didn't even think about it... I don't even know who they are... they're complete strangers..." Raffalo looked slightly worried. Rose snapped herself out of it, not noticing Star looked upset. "Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!"

She began to walk away, frowning when Star refused to take her hand and stormed off ahead.

"Thank you, Miss. And..." Rose turned. "Thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."

"'Kay. See you later."

Raffalo nodded and smiled.

~8~

Star walked along the corridor, having lost Rose a while ago, and rolled her eyes when she heard the announcement. " _Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery 15 please report to the steward's office immediately. Guests are reminded that use of all teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty 5.4/cup/16. Thank you_."

She went back into the main room and found herself wandering over to the Face of Boe. "Hello. I'm Star."

There was a low chuckling. _"Yes, we have met many a time my little Star "_

"We have?" Star's eyes widened.

" _Yes dear child. Many years ago, a night of dancing in the Blitz."_

Star giggled and sat down in front of Boe.

 _"Little Star, do not be mad at Rosie, she means no harm. She is human, scared. She was scared. Rose loves you."_

"Yeah," Star sighed. "I know."

~8~

" _Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes_."

Rose sat on the steps, throwing the egg up in the air and catching it again when she heard the announcement. "Oh, thanks." She muttered.

She put the egg down and turned her attention to the cutting of Jabe's grandfather. She picked it up. "Hello! My name's Rose. That's a sort of plant. We might be related..." She suddenly realized what she was doing and hurriedly put the plant down. "I'm talking to a _twig_."

Behind her, the spider broke out of the egg.

~8~

The TARDIS was being dragged away by some of the staff. "Oi, now, careful with that. Park it properly. No scratches."

One of them walked up to the Protector, squeaked at her, handed her a card and walked away again. The Protector reads it - it said 'Have a nice day'. The Protector looked at the retreating staff's back as if he or she was completely off his or her rocker, and walked off. A few of the metal spiders scurried up the wall behind him. A few more were running along the air vent.

The spider that came out of Rose's egg appeared to be scanning her hand, but Rose was completely oblivious. It jumped and ran to the air vent when the Protector's voice floated through the door. "Star? Rose? Are you in there?"

The spider scrambled through the vent just in time, before the Protector came through the door. "Aye aye! Where's Star?"

Rose shrugged. "She walked off, mentioned something about going to see the Face of Boe."

The Protector nodded, mostly fine with Star being alone. She sat down on the other side of the stairs. "What do you think, then?"

"Great! Yeah... fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper..." The Protector laughed. There was a short pause. "They're just, so alien." The Protector looked at her questioningly. "The aliens. Are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South," the Protector joked.

"Where are you and Star from?"

"All over the place," the Protector said dismissively.

"They all speak English," Rose acknowledged.

"No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field. It translates for you, so you can understand what they're all saying." The Protector smiled.

"So they're not actually speaking English?" Rose asked. The Protector shook her head. "Okay... So what are you? What sort of alien are you? I don't even know you, I just came with you. Who are you?"

"I'm just the Protector," she replied, sitting up and looking away.

"From what planet?" Rose pressed, starting to get more worried about her safety.

"Rose-"

"Where are you from?!"

"Rose-"

"Tell me who you are!"

"Rose stop it!" The Protector exclaimed, getting up abruptly and moving quickly down the steps away from her. "Please, just _leave it_. This is who I am, right here, right now. All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"

"Yeah and I'm here too, because you brought me here, so just tell me!"

"You chose to come!" The Protector yelled, a light sparking. "You chose to come with us!"

"Who are you?!" Rose demanded, following the Protector down the stairs.

"I'm the Protector!"

"Who is Star?! She looks nothing like you, is she even your daughter?!"

There was a sharp crack as the Protector's hand connected with Rose's cheek, the blonde's head snapping to the side. "Don't. You. _Dare_. Don't you _ever_ even think about that! I am the Protector, my daughter is Staretalicia. That's it. I would lay down my life to protect my daughter, I have almost lost her far too many times already. If you can't deal with not knowing our past, then you can go home. Make your mind up Rose Tyler."

" _Earth Death in 20 minutes. Earth Death in 20 minutes_."

After a few moments, Rose sighed. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. She rubbed her cheek. "You have one hell of a slap though. Could be a Tyler with that slap. Anyway, like my mate Shareen says...don't argue with the designated driver..." Rose pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Can't exactly call for a taxi... there's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit!"

"I'm sorry too," the Protector turned to face her. "Tell you what..." She held her hand out expectantly and Rose hesitantly gave it to her. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery... She took the back off the phone.

"Is that a technical term, "jiggery pokery"?" Rose teased with a grin.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?" The Protector also grinned.

"Nah, failed hullabaloo," Rose joked.

"Oooh." She fit in a new battery and handed phone back to Rose. "There you go."

Rose took it and looked at her uncertainly. She nodded. Rose got her mum's number onto the screen and put the phone to her ear. It rang.

" _Hello?_ " Jackie answered.

"Mum?"

" _Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now? Oh, this red top's falling to bits! You should get your money back. Go on! There must be something, you never phone in the middle of the day_!"

Rose laughed, typical mum.

" _What's so funny_?"

"Nothing! You all right, though?"

" _Yeah! Why wouldn't I be_?"

"What day is it?"

" _Wednesday. All day. You got a hangover? Oh, I tell you what, put a quid in that lottery syndicate, I'll pay you back later_."

"Yeah, um, I was just calling 'cause I might be late home."

" _Is there something wrong_?"

"No! I'm fine! Top of the world!"

The Protector laughed as Jackie hung up. Rose lowered the mobile, stunned. "Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill," the Protector smirked.

"That was 5 billion years ago. So... she's dead now. Five billion years later, my mum's dead." Rose realised.

"Bundle of laughs, you are," the Protector snorted.

The ship shuddered. "That's not supposed to happen..." the Protector beamed.

~8~

The guests were completely oblivious to the commotion, chatting to each other. The Moxx of Balhoon was talking to the Face of Boe.

"...this is the Bad Wolf scenario..."

Star heard, but brushed it off, though the words 'Bad Wolf' struck something in her.

The Protector and Rose entered, Star running over to them, ignoring Rose and hugging her mother. "That wasn't a gravity pocket," she began talking at once. "I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that."

The Protector nodded and began fiddling with a control panel next to the door. Jabe approached them.

"What do you think, Jabe?" The Protector asked the tree. "Listen to the engines, they pitched up about 30 hertz, is that dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?" The Protector asked.

"I don't know... but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you, your daughter and..." she gestured to Rose "...your sister."

"Auntie Rose," Star grinned, "I like the sound of that."

Rose blushed. "Tell you what, you two go and pollinate, I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson. Coming Star?"

Star nodded with a grin and they made their way over to Cassandra. "Don't start a fight," the Protector called and proffered her arm to Jabe. "I'm all yours."

"And I want you home by midnight!" Rose called watching them.

The Protector grinned back at her.

~8~

" _Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes_."

Before the Protector and Jabe entered, several spiders scurried out of view.

"Who's in charge of Platform One?" The Protector asked. "Is there a captain or what?"

"There's just the steward and the staff. All the rest is controlled by the metal man." Jabe told her.

"You mean the computer? But who controls that?" The Protector twisted her bracelet on her wrist, fiddling with the charms.

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another."

The Protector was silent for a moment. "But there's no one from the corporation on board," she pointed out.

"They're not needed," Jade shrugged, as best as a tree could. "This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

"Unsinkable?" The Protector guessed.

"If you like," Jabe nodded. "The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable... I ended up clinging to an iceberg, it wasn't half cold." She shuddered slightly then stopped. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not."

The Protector grinned. "Fantastic."

She started walking again.

"I don't understand. In what way is THAT fantastic?" Jabe asked following her.

Behind them, a spider crept out of its hiding place.

~8~

Star sat cross legged on the floor, listening to Rose and Cassandra talk. They were looking out of a window at the sun and down at the Earth, Star tracing patterns on the glass.

"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy." Star stopped tracing patterns abruptly, turning to stare at Cassandra in confusion. "Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I had such fun."

"What happened to everyone else? The Human Race, where did it go?" Rose asked, glancing at her.

"They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky." Cassandra replied tensely.

"So, you're NOT the last human," Star smirked, twisting a lock of hair around her pointer finger.

"I am the last PURE human," Cassandra sniffed. "The others... _mingled_. Oh, they call themselves "New Humans" and "Proto-humans" and "Digi-humans" even "Human-ish" but you know what I call them?" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Mongrels."

"Right," Rose said horrified. "And you stayed behind."

"I kept myself pure."

"How many operations have you had?" Star questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"708. Next week, it's 709, I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Rose. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out."

Star wrinkled her nose in disgust, shaking her head as she stood up. "I'd rather die," Rose snapped.

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt..."

"No, I mean it. I'd rather die. It's better to die than live like you," she reached over to cover Star's ears, the girl squeaking at her hearing being cut off. "A bitchy trampoline."

"Oh well. What do you know." Cassandra huffed.

"I was born on that planet. And so was my mum, and so was my dad and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, 'cause you're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking."

She walked off, only for Star to drag her over to the Face of Boe. "Rosie this is my friend, the Face of Boe."

 _"Hello, Rose Tyler."_

Rose jumped at the voice in her head, startled by it. "Who-"

"The Face of Boe," Star grinned. "You two chat, I'm going to the toilet."

"Be careful," Rose warned as she sat down. "Straight there, straight back."

Star rolled her eyes, but continued grinning. "Yes, _Auntie Rose_." She jogged off, her hair flying out behind her.

The Adherents of the Repeated Meme watched her leave through the sliding doors.

~8~

The Protector and Jabe were still making their way down the corridor, the low ceiling forcing them to stoop slightly. "So, tell me, Jabe. What's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"

"Respect for the Earth."

"Oh, come on." The Protector rolled her eyes. "Everyone on this platform's worth zillions."

"Well... perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions."

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land."

"All the same. You respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below. And I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest."

The Protector looked impressed. She then pointed to a control panel. "Excuse me." She got out her sonic screwdriver and started poking the screen with it.

"And what about your ancestry, Protector? Perhaps you could tell a story or two... perhaps a woman only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left..." She didn't get an answer. "I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species, refused to admit your existence." The Protector pretended to be concentrating on the scan, but a flicker of emotion passed across her face. "And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right." The Protector stopped scanning. Deep sadness was reflected in her eyes. Jabe's tone was hushed, awed. "I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just want to say... how sorry I am."

Jabe put a comforting hand on her arm. The Protector's eyes were filled with tears. She placed her hand over Jabe's, and a tear fell down her cheek. She quickly finished the scan and her and Jabe went through a door.

~8~

The Protector and Jabe found themselves in the ventilation chamber. There were huge fans circulating in there. The Protector looked down at Jabe. "Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?"

~8~

Star walked alone down a corridor. The Adherents of the Repeated Meme were coming from the other end. She smiled at them, but the front one struck her to the ground where she lay unconscious as they dragged her from view.

~8~

"Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of, nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it "retro"." The Protector scanned another control panel with her sonic screwdriver. "Gotcha."

The panel fell off and a spider scuttled out and scurried across the floor and up the wall. The Protector and Jabe watched it.

"What the hell's that?" The Protector raised her eyebrows.

"Is it part of the "retro"?" Jabe suggested.

"I don't think so. Hold on." She pointed the screwdriver at the spider. However, Jabe fired something up at the spider, disabling it. It came falling into the Protector's hand. "Hey! Nice liana!"

"Thank you! We're not supposed to show them in public."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." The Protector winked, then turned her attention to the spider. "Now then. Who's been bringing the pets on board?"

"What does it do?"

"Sabotage," the Protector muttered.

" _Earth Death in 10 minutes_."

"And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on."

They hurried from the chamber.

~8~

"Where the hell is Star?" Rose muttered as the others milled about.

"The planet's end. Come gather! Come gather! Bid farewell to the cradle of civilization. Let us mourn her with a traditional ballad." Cassandra spoke.

Britney Spears' Toxic suddenly blasted out of the enormous iPod. Rose rolled her eyes and left to find Star.

~8~

The Protector and Jabe hurried along, the corridor was filled with smoke and the staff were coughing squeaky little coughs.

"Come on! Get back!" The Protector moved her sonic screwdriver over another control panel.

" _Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising_."

"Was the Steward in there?!" Jabe exclaimed concerned.

"You can smell him," the Protector deadpanned. "Hold on, there's another sun filter program to descend."

~8~

'Toxic' played loudly as Star woke up, rubbing her head.

" _Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending_."

Star sat up in alarm as the Sunfilter descended. She ran to the door and knocked on it frantically. "Let me out! Mummy!"

" _Sunfilter descending_."

~8~

The Protector ran along the corridor, bumping into Rose who was looking for Star.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

The Protector arrived outside the door to attempt to make the Sunfilter rise again. "Anyone in there?" She asked.

"Mummy!" Star screamed. "Help! Let me out!"

" _Kara_?" The Protector gapsed. "Hold on!"

"Mummy! Open the door!"

"Hold on! Give us two ticks! Just hold on baby, hold on!"

"Mummy, I'm scared!" Star yelled, the Protector swallowing.

" _Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending_."

The display on the control panel said 'Sunfilter Rising'. The Protector looked up expectantly.

" _Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising_."

The Protector looked pleased with herself. Rose sighed with relief.

" _Sunfilter rising... Sunfilter descending_."

"That's it," the Protector snapped. She shrugged her jacket off and Rose gasped as she saw the burns covering her arms. " _Kara, stand back_ ," she ordered in a different language, one Rose couldn't understand.

She pressed her hands to the door, concentrating as Star screamed in fear. A dark look settled on her face and Rose gasped, stumbling back as the door completely exploded inwards. " _Kara_!"

"Mummy!" Star called running out and into the Protector's arms, sobbing terrified, the Protector kissing the top of her head and hugging her tightly.

" _Sunfilter descending. Sunfilter descending_."

The Protector stood up, holding Star in her arms and jabbed her sonic screwdriver right inside the wires.

" _Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising._ _Earth Death in 5 minutes._ "

Star whimpered and buried her head in the Protector's shoulder.

~8~

Rose stood watching while holding Star in her arms. "The metal machine confirms," Jabe announced. "The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one."

"How's that possible?" Cassandra cried out. "Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me."

The Protector took the destabilized spider out of Jabe's hand.

"Summon the Steward!" The Moxx of Balhoon ordered.

"I'm afraid the Steward is dead," Jabe informed.

There was a general gasp of shock.

"Who killed him?" The Moxx asked in shock.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe! He invited us!" The Face of Boe shook his head, Star looking up briefly to glare at Cassandra. "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!"

"Easy way of finding out. Someone bought a little pet on board." The Protector showed them the spider. "Let's send him back to Master."

She placed the spider down on the floor. The spider scuttled along to Cassandra and looked up at her. Cassandra looked shifty for a moment, but the spider moved on to the feet of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!"

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it..." the Protector walked over to the Adherants, which tried to strike her, but she caught its arm and ripped it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." She ripped a wire out of the arm and all of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled into a bundle of black cloaks. Everyone gasped. Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" She nudged the spider with her foot. "Go home!"

The spider ambled back over to Cassandra. "I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." The Protector raised her eyebrows. "At arms!"

The two bodyguards with canisters on either side of her raised their canisters.

"What are you going to do, moisturize me?" The Protector asked mockingly.

"With acid. Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face."

"She's not even that," Star mumbled in Rose's ear, the blonde snorting in amusement.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?"

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money," Rose spat.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, Protector. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours."

The Protector narrowed her eyes. "I _hope_ that wasn't aimed at my daughter," she snarled.

"Arrest her!"

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option."

" _Earth Death in 3 minutes_."

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? "Burn, baby, burn.""

"Then you'll burn with us," Jabe stepped forwards.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but... I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate." There were a series of explosions around the ship. "Force fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband." She giggled. "Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings..."

She and her bodyguards teleported out.

" _Heat levels rising_."

"Reset the computer!" The Moxx cried.

"Only the Steward would know how," Jabe panicked.

"No," the Protector shook her head. "We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Rose, come on. Jabe, stay here, look after my daughter."

"With my life, Protector," Jabe promised, the Protector nodding to her in thanks as they stood by the Face of Boe. Star ran over to Jabe, while Rose joined the Protector.

They left the room. "You lot - just chill!" The Protector called back over her shoulder.

Rose shook her head with a laugh. "You just had to do that, didn't you?"

"Yup!"

~8~

" _Earth Death in 2 minutes. Earth Death in 2 minutes_."

Rose and the Protector ran through the maintenance corridor.

" _Heat levels, critical. Heat levels, critical_."

The Protector and Rose reached the ventilation chamber.

"Oh. And guess where the switch is," the Protector complained.

The switch was located at the other side of the enormous fans.

" _Heat levels - rising. Heat levels, rising_."

The Protector pulled a lever down and the fans slowed down.

" _External temperature, 5 thousand degrees_."

As soon as the Protector let go of the lever, the fans started to speed up again. As the Protector looked hopelessly at the fans, Rose pulled the lever down again and held it there.

"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place." The Protector told her, Rose smiling at her.

"I know."

"Rose, you'll burn!"

"Then stop wasting time. Time Lady." The Protector paused, wondering how she knew that. "The Face of Boe is very helpful," Rose grinned, tongue in teeth.

She grinned at her and ran back to the fans.

~8~

" _Heat levels, rising. Heat levels, rising_."

The glass began to crack, Star letting out a gasp.

" _Heat levels, hazardous_."

"We're going to die!" The Moxx wailed.

Star swallowed then stood up. She was breathing heavily completely terrified, but her eyes had hardened. "I hope I can do this," she whispered to herself.

"Do what?" Jabe asked confused, as the girl stood up.

She grinned smugly, feeling the buzz run through her body. "I'm not my mother's daughter for nothing. I inherited more than just her need for adventure."

Concentrating, she pushed her hands forwards, a faint blue light appearing across the window. It held for a moment, flickering slightly, before it faded.

 _"Star, believe in yourself,"_ the Face of Boe told her. _"You can do this if you believe_."

Star hesitated, then nodded. "I can. I _can_ do this."

Then the blue light appeared, stronger than before, a shield across the window.

" _Heat levels, hazardous_."

~8~

The Protector dodged the first fan and ran underneath it. She looked anxiously up at the next one, before looking back at Rose who was sweating and breathing heavily.

" _Heat levels, critical. Heat levels, critical_."

She dodged under the second fan.

~8~

The glass cracked further, but Star's shield held strong, despite the girl falling to her knees, panting from the effort. Jabe wrapped an arm round her, before pulling away in shock. Star was burning up rapidly.

~8~

As the Protector stood before the third fan, Rose started shaking violently. Suddenly, she gasped and collapsed to the floor, her hands burning. The Protector looked back, shocked. Now there was no one to hold the lever down and the fans circulated so fast that they could hardly be seen, in order to cool the ship down. It was impossible for the Protector to get through.

" _Planet explodes in 10... 9..._ "

The Protector closed her eyes. All went quiet.

" _8... 7... 6... 5... 4..._ "

The Protector, still with her eyes closed, stepped calmly though the fan. When at the other side, she opened her eyes and dashed to the switch, pulling it down.

"Raise shields!"

" _...1_ "

~8~

The force fields around the ships were reset just as the planet was engulfed in fire. It exploded, leaving the ship completely unharmed.

~8~

Star let out a scream, her shield finally dying as she collapsed on the floor, panting heavily.

" _Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair_."

~8~

The Protector walked back through the fans. She stopped by Rose who was on the floor and knelt down to help the blonde up, who smiled at her in relief.

~8~

They walked back into the observation gallery, where all the aliens were sitting around, unharmed. Except Star, who was on the floor unconscious. The Protector strode over to her, helping Rose along. "What happened?" She demanded as Rose sat down.

"There was this...this blue light thing," Jabe tried to explain. "She saved everyone."

The Protector's eyes widened and a small smile crossed her face. "She is most definitely my daughter," she muttered, stroking Star's hair back, the girl's skin already cooling rapidly. "She'll be okay. Rose, look after her."

"You all right?" The blonde teen asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." She strode over to the ostrich egg, broke it open and the teleportation feed fell out. She picked it up. "Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed."

She twisted the feed. Cassandra appeared before them, apparently in the middle of gloating. "Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces. Oh."

"The Last Human," the Protector snarled.

"So," Cassandra said, flustered. "You passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the er... the human club."

"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them. You almost killed _my daughter_."

"That depends on your definition of 'people'," Cassandra snarked, ignoring the last statement. "And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Protector! And watch me smile, and cry, and flutter..."

"And creak?"

"And what?" Cassandra paused.

"Creak! You're creaking."

Cassandra's skin was tightening. Her eyes were becoming bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter. "What? Ah! Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" She was covered in red blotches.

"You raised the temperature," the Protector said calmly.

"Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, Protector!"

"Help her." Rose called over, shaken.

"Everything has its time and everything dies."

"I'm... too... young!"

She exploded. The Protector looked completely cold and not remotely fazed. She walked over, lifted Star up and left the room.

~8~

" _Shuttles 4 and 6 departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance_."

The Manchester Suite was completely empty apart from Rose, who was standing at the window watching the Earth burn with a very vulnerable and sad look on her face, oblivious to the Protector watching her from the doorway. Rocks flew past the window. She turned around when she heard the Protector's footsteps as she came to stand beside her.

"Star's in bed," the Protector told her.

"The end of the Earth. It's gone. And we were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years... all that history and no one was even looking. It's just..." she trailed off.

The Protector held his hand out to her and took Rose's bandaged hand in her own. "Come with me."

They walked away together.

~8~

Back in 2005, Rose stepped out of the TARDIS. She looked around at the crowds, seeing them in a new light. The Protector stood beside her.

"Big issue!" A seller called out.

"You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." They both looked at the sky. My planet's gone." Rose turned to look at her. This was the first time she'd mentioned her home. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time."

"What happened?" Rose asked quietly.

"There was a war. And we lost."

"A war with who?" She didn't answer, seemingly lost in thought. "What about your people?"

"I'm a Time Lord. Well, Time Lady. So is Star. We're the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. We're the only survivors. We're left travelling on our own because there's no one else."

"There's me..." She smiled at her.

"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?"

Rose looked at her for a few seconds. "I don't know. I want..." she sniffed the air. "Oh! Can you smell chips?"

The Protector laughed. "Yeah. Yeah!"

"I want chips."

"Me too. Just let me fix your hands up, we'll get Star and then chips it is."

"Right then, before you get me back in that box and we go off travelling, chips it is, and you can pay."

"No money," the Protector smirked.

"What sort of date are you?" Rose joked. "Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me." She smiled at her, delighted. "We've only got five billion years before the shops close..."

They went back into the TARDIS and the Protector took Rose down to the medbay. "Where are you, where are you?" She mumbled to herself, searching the cupboards. One lit up and the Protector grinned, seeing a tub of gel. "There you are!"

She turned to Rose and took the blonde's hands in her own, spreading the cold gel on them. Rose hissed at the coldness. Ten seconds later the Protector wiped off the gel and Rose stared in surprise. Her hands were completely healed.

"Ta-da!"

"Woah," Rose grinned. "That's amazing."

"Let's go get Star." The Protector helped her up and led her down a corridor to a door.

The door was beautiful. Swirling, circular writing adorned the door, Star's name written in English underneath. Several paintings covered the door. The Protector gently pushed the door open and they looked in to see Star sitting, painting something, while humming.

"Hey, Kara," the Protector called walking over.

"Mummy," Star greeted, turning.

"What you painting now?"

Star looked down, biting her lip, then showed the painting to them. The Protector's eyes widened. "Kara..."

"I dreamt about it again Mummy," Star whispered. "The burning and the screaming. I dreamt about Daddy. So I painted my favourite view, the one Daddy showed me."

"It's beautiful Lissi," the Protector said quietly.

It really was.

"How about we get those chips now?" The Protector suggested after a moment. "Coming Star?" The girl nodded. "Lets go."

They left the TARDIS and walk down the street together laughing, Rose nuzzling her head against the Protector's shoulder, Star skipping ahead.

 **A.N: The Protector slapped Rose! She really could be a Tyler with that. So, more insight to the special abilities and now we know they can be inherited as Star too has them. Star also paints, that's interesting.**

 **Some insight to Star's Gallifreyan name here, Kara. And Jabe survived! This may just become a running trend, the survival of different people.**

 **That's all folks!**


	5. Talks Over Chips

"So," Rose began, her eyes not straying from Star, who was eyeing the chips carefully. "You broke that door away earlier." The Protector cringed. "And Jabe mentioned a blue light." Star popped a chip in her mouth, chewing slowly, before her eyes widened and she ate another one. Rose giggled slightly. "What was that?"

The Protector sighed. "Me and Star...we're different." Rose scoffed. "And I don't just mean that we're aliens. We're different from other Time Lords." She sighed and looked over at her daughter who was experimenting with ketchup. "We're classed as wrong, as abominations." Star's eyes lit up in joy.

"How anyone could class her as an abomination is beside me," Rose shook her head, watching fondly as Star dunked chips in ketchup and ate them gleefully.

"But we are Rose. By Time Lord standards, we shouldn't exist. If it weren't for the Doctor, we would have been executed."

"The Doctor?" Rose asked, tilting her head to the side.

"My husband," the Protector smiled. "He saved my life. Protected me. I still say he should have been the Protector, but hey, he made me better, healed me. He always said that, depsite everything they had done to me, I would still protect them..."

 _"Theta, I am so lost. I have absolutely no idea what to choose for a name!" Azlia exclaimed as she entered the room, fingering the charm bracelet on her wrist nervously._

 _Theta pulled her into a comforting hug, stroking her hair. "Calm down Az," he whispered in her ear._

 _"But you've chosen your name!" Azlia exclaimed upset. "You know what you want to be." She paused. "Why did you choose the Doctor?"_

 _Theta pulled her over to the sofa and sat down, Azlia leaning on him as they watched the fire flicker and burn. "Doctor, the human word for healer and wiseman."_

 _Azlia shook her head with a laugh. "I should've known it would come back to humans. You're obsessed with them Theta."_

 _"That's what I want to be," Theta said, ignoring her. "I want to help people, be wise. So I chose the Doctor."_

 _Azlia sighed lay her head on the sofa. "I should just be the Abomination. It's what I am."_

 _"No you are not!" Theta exclaimed. "How many times Azliaquithelldrezdusktara? You're not an abomination, they are. What you are is a protector. You protected me, you protected Koschei. You insist on protecting them, even though all they ever do is hurt you."_

 _Azlia shrugged. "It's just what I do," she murmured._

 _"Exactly," he grinned. "Azlia, you protect everyone. You're the Protector."_

 _Azlia tilted her head to the side. "The Protector," she repeated slowly. Then a grin came across her face. "I like that."_

 _"My Protector."_

 _"Your Protector."_

"This charm bracelet. It protects me from the Time Lords. I no longer need it, but I can't get rid of it. It's one of the last things I have to remember him by."

The Protector held her wrist out to Rose, showing her the bracelet. It was a simple silver bracelet, just a few charms. Nine to be exact. Each charm was a different gem, each one with symbols on them.

"What are these?" Rose asked, running her finger over the symbols.

The Protector smiled. "Our language, Gallifreyan. The first one says my real name. Then there's, 'I love you', 'Always and forever', 'Always in my heart', 'Have courage' and a personal favourite, 'You could murder entire civilisations and it wouldn't change how much I love you'."

Rose tilted her head to the side. "What is your real name?" She asked curiously.

"Can't tell you that." Star suddenly said from behind her, making Rose jump in surprise. "Our real names are secrets. We can only tell them to our Bonded."

"Though we do have sperate names, given to us as...cover names, shall we say?" The Protector smiled. "But even then we can only tell other Time Lords. Although..." she smirked, "they never said anything about nicknames."

A beaming smile came onto Star's face. "Oh that's clever! My nickname is Kara," she told Rose.

"And my nickname is Azlia," the Protector grinned. Then she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "It was just like my mum to give me an exceedingly long, practically unpronounceable name. In fact, the only one who ever could pronounce my name, was the Doctor."

Rose laughed. When she'd first met he Protector, she hadn't been sure what to think of her. The woman was so closed off, so warrior-like, she hadn't been sure how to react. But then Star had come into the picture. Suddenly, the Protector was like a different person. She was more open, more emotional. Her daughter brought out the best in her.

The Protector watched as Rose laughed and fed her daughter chips, the pair grinning away. Rose had proved right from the start that she would be a good companion, a good friend, but the Protector had still had her reservations. But after Rose met Star and she saw the pair truly got on well and even, possibly, loved each other, she'd realised that there was something more to Rose Tyler. Sure, they had had their argument, but the Protector couldn't deny that it was a natural reaction to fear. Lash out at it. She remembered doing much the same when Theta asked to court her. She'd yelled, screamed at him.

And earlier, she heard Star calling Rose, Auntie Rose. She knew for a fact, that Star didn't warm up to people very quickly. But there was something about Rose. Even she found herself telling Rose things, stuff about her past, secrets that she'd never told anyone.

But there was a mystery about Rose Tyler. The Protector could sense it, something in the blonde human's timelines just didn't seem right. Like they continued on, then a lot of gold, then nothing, though her life continued. If anything, it matched a Time Lords, when they regenerated, an abomination could see that. Their timeline would just end abruptly, though their life would continue. But Rose was human. The TARDIS scans proved that. And she had never seen anything like the gold before.

One thing was for sure. Rose was a mystery. And the Protector loved solving mysteries.

"So," she said brightly, "you've seen the future. How about the past?"

 **A.N: And now we know the Protector's Gallifreyan name. Azliaquithelldrezdusktara. Sheesh, that's hard to pronounce. Wonder what the ship name for her and the Doctor would be. Azleta? Thetlia? Azlieta?**

 **And the Protector knows something's up with Rose, wonder how that will change things? Or will it? My lips are sealed.**


	6. The Unquiet Dead

Inside the TARDIS, it was mayhem. The whole ship was shaking and alarm was going off. "Hold that one down Liss!" The Protector called over.

"I'm HOLDING this one down Mummy!" Star shouted at her, almost falling over.

"Well, hold them BOTH down!" The Protector rolled her eyes.

"It's not going to work!" Rose called from the other side of the console, hiding a grin. Star heaved herself up and pulled the lever down, hanging off the floor.

"Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting," the Protector gave Rose a mock warning look.

"Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past," Star grinned, hanging onto the console. "1860. How does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?"

"I don't know," the Protector shrugged. "Let's find out. Hold on, here we go!"

Star let out a shriek of laughter as the TARDIS screeched through the time vortex, throwing her head back, her eyes shining with pure happiness.

Rose smiled softly as she saw the Protector grin, her eyes on Star. The TARDIS jolted suddenly, sending all three of them flying to the floor.

The controls were steaming as Rose sat up and pulled Star to her feet, the girl jumping as she got up. The Protector laughed as she stood too.

"Blimey!"

"You're telling me! Are you alright?" The Protector checked, starting to fuss over her daughter.

"Mummy...Mummy...Mummy! Mummy, I'm fine!" Star giggled as the Protector hugged her and kissed her forehead.

"Sorry, Love. Just checking."

"Yeah," Rose said after a moment of smiling at the pair. "I think so!" She amended. "Nothing broken... did we make it? Where are we?"

The Protector studied the screen carefully then grinned. "I did it! Give the girl a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th 1860."

Star peeked at the screen and clamped a hand over her mouth as the results changed to the truth. "Oh Auntie TARDIS, you really need to stop lying to Mummy about her terrible driving," she whispered.

"That's so weird..." Rose commented, "it's Christmas."

The Protector gestured towards the door. "All yours."

"But, it's like... think about it, though," Rose said, lifting Star up. "Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, and it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you." She studied them intently. "You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago... no wonder you never stay still..."

"Not a bad life," Star and the Protector commented together.

"Better with three." Rose kissed Star's head and put her down, grinning at the Protector before dashing towards the door. "Come on then!"

"Oi, oi, oi! Where do you think you're going?!" The Protector called after her.

"1860!"

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella!" Star tilted her head to the side, confused. "There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left. Hurry up!"

Rose just stared at her. "What?"

Star giggled and grabbed her hand, pulling her off. "Come on, I'll show you!"

The Protector grinned after them.

~8~

Star pulled Rose through a set of double doors and into a large room. The blonde gaped around. "This is huge Ali," she breathed.

Star nodded. "1860s please," she called out. The racks shufter about and suddenly they were surrounded by dresses and clothes all from the 1860s. "Thanks Auntie."

"Auntie?" Rose asked as Star led her over to a rack.

"The TARDIS. She's practically Mummy's sister and she's always been around. So I call her Auntie." Star pulled a dress off a rack and handed it to Rose, grabbing a shawl and some shoes to go with it. "Try that."

A few minutes later, Rose was helping Star find a dress to wear. "Now don't tell Mummy," Star said as they looked through the clothes, "but Auntie lied to her. We're not in 1860, we're in 1869, and we're in Cardiff, not Naples."

"Nothing wrong with that as long as I have you two," Rose smiled and pulled out a dress. "How about this Ali?"

~8~

The Protector was doing some more unnecessary repair work. Rose swanned in and she turned off her sonic screwdriver, looking at her in surprise. "You look amazing Rose," she grinned.

Rose smirked and moved aside to reveal Star, smiling shyly. Star was wearing an ankle length red dress, with black bows on the bottom and balck underskirts. The front of her hair was pulled back in three plaits on either side and she had a long red cape over it, the cape pattered with leaves and flowers, tied with a red bow.

"You look beautiful Kara," the Protector gasped. "When did you get so grown up?"

"I'm 73 Mummy," Star rolled her eyes, ignoring Rose gaping at them.

"Good Lord, so you are. Oh you're too old," the Protector shook her head, lifting Star up, who hit her shoulder.

"Go change Mummy," she ordered.

"But-"

"Now." Star pouted and pulled puppy dog eyes at her. The Protector groaned.

"Not the eyes," she whined. Star just gazed at her unblinking. "Oh...fine!" She put Star down on the floor. "Back in a bit." As soon as she rounded the corner Star cheered. "Heard that!"

Rose shook her head, laughing slightly. "Those are some nice puppy eyes you have there," she complimented. "But do you want to know how to make them better?" She grinned. Star nodded eagerly. "You need to do the _kicked_ puppy eyes Ali. Eyes watering, lip wobbling. You'll be sure to get your way every time. I'll teach, on one condition."

"Anything!"

"Don't ever use them on me. Deal?" Star nodded and shook Rose's hand. "So," the blonde said after a moment. "70?"

Star nodded. "Yeah. In human years. In Time Lord years, I'm only 7. A Time Lord ages 10 human years for every Time Lord year, until they reach 18 Time Lord years. After that they age 100 human years for every Time Lord year, until they reach 100 Time Lord years. Then they age 1000 human years for every Time Lord year." She tilted her head to the side. "Mummy's on her way back."

A moment later, the Protector entered the console room. She was wearing a dress similar to Star's. Red over the top, but with white underskirts and a single red bow at the shoulder. Ober the top she had a black shawl and her hair was pulled up into a loose bun with a few wisps escaping at the front. Star gasped when she saw she was wearing her proper red ballet shoes.

"Well?" The Protector asked shyly.

"Wow Tori," Rose gasped. "You look...beautiful."

The Protector blushed. "Are we going or what?" She asked, hiding her face.

"You, stay there!" Rose ordered, grabbing Star's hand and dragging her to the doors. "You've done this before. This is mine!" Together they opened the door.

~8~

Rose looked out onto the 1869 street. She made one footprint in the untouched snow then withdrew her foot again. Then she stepped out altogether. Star quickly went out after her, dancing round in the snow and trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue. The Protector followed them out. "Ready for this?" She asked with a grin. Rose smiled and looped her arm through the Protector's. Star grabbed the Protector's other hand. "Here we go."

"History!" Star beamed.

They walked off together.

The Protector was buying a newspaper. She unfolded it and scanned it. "I got the flight a bit wrong," she admitted sheepishly.

"We know," Star and Rose grinned.

"It's not 1860, it's 1869," the Protector continued.

"We know," they repeated, grinning.

"And it's not Naples."

"We _know_."

"It's Cardiff."

"Tori," Rose finally got her to listen. "We know."

"Oh," the Protector blushed lightly. "How?"

"Auntie told me and I told Auntie Rose," Star smiled.

Suddenly, people started screaming. "Yay!" Star beamed, bouncing up and down while clapping her hands. "Trouble!"

The Protector grinned. "That's more like it!"

"You pair are terrible!" Rose called to them as the Protector tossed the newspaper over her shoulder and ran with Star in the direction of the screaming.

~8~

Star grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her a bit faster, before letting go as they entered a theatre. Gas was zooming around in the air.

"Fantastic," the Protector breathed.

Gas finished leaving an old woman's mouth and she slumped back in the chair. The Protector approached a man onstage. "Did you see where it came from?" She asked curiously.

"Ah. The wag reveals herself, does she? I trust you're satisfied, ma'am!

The Protector blinked, slightly taken aback.

"Oi!" Star suddenly yelled, catching Rose's attention. "Leave her alone!"

A man and woman were making off with the old woman.

"Tori, we'll get 'em!"

"Be careful! Look after Lissi!" She jumped onto the stage. "Did it say anything? Could it speak? I'm the Protector, by the way."

"Protector?" The man raised an eyebrow at her. "You look more like a Lady."

"Well..." the Protector shrugged. Technically she was a Lady, just a Lady of Time.

~8~

Star and Rose ran over to where the man and woman had loaded the old woman into a hearse. "What're you doing?!" Rose demanded angrily, pushing Star behind her.

"Oh, it's such a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it," the young woman tried to stop Rose from seeing inside. "The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary."

Rose pushed the young woman aside and felt the old woman's forehead. "She's cold... She's dead!" She realised. "My God, what did you do to her?"

Star yelped suddenly and Rose spun round to see her collapse to the floor, unconscious. "Ali!" The young woman lifted her up, her face shocked as the man grabbed Rose and clamped a tissue full of chloroform, to her mouth. Fighting him and holding her breath, Rose tried to get to Star as the young woman put her in the back of the carriage. She managed to pull away and spun round to hit the man, only for something to slam into the back of her head, knocking her out.

~8~

The blue gas was still zooming around inside. It dived into one of the gas lamps and disappeared. "Gas! It's made of gas!"

 _'MUMMY!'_

"Star! Rose!"

The Protector ran out of the building in time to see a man trying to lift up Rose. "OI!" She yelled. He looked up and saw her, dropping Rose. She ran over, but wasn't in time to stop the carriage as it sped away, not without revealing her powers to the world. The Protector knelt down, giving Rose a slight electric shock and the blonde began to wake. "Rose?"

"You're not escaping me, ma'am! What do you know about that hobgoblin, hm?" The man from the stage demanded.

"Not now," the Protector snapped, helping Rose get up.

"Projection on glass, I suppose," the man continued. "Who put you up to it?"

"I said, _not now_ ," the Protector snarled, her arm going round Rose's waist to help her stand. She looked and saw a coach, then ran towards it, helping Rose, while shouting to the driver. "Oi, you! Follow that hearse!"

She jumped into the coach and pulled Rose in after her. "I'm fine Tori," Rose muttered, rubbing her head slightly.

"You can't do that, ma'am!" The man exclaimed.

"Why not?" The Protector retorted, her eyes flashing.

"Why not?! I'll give you a very good reason why not! This is my coach!"

"Well, get in then!" She pulled the man in. "Move!"

The coach rumbled off. "Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?"

"No! It is not!"

"What did he say?" Rose asked, sitting up properly.

"Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour..."

"Dickens?" The blonde cut in.

"Yes."

"Charles Dickens?"

"Yes."

"THE Charles Dickens?"

"Shall I remove the ladies, sir?" The Driver called back.

"Look, no offence Rosie, Mr Dickens, but could you drive _faster_?" The Protector snapped. "My _daughter_ is in that hearse and she's only seven years old. She's all I've got, so, please, just go _faster_!"

"Driver!" Dickens called. "Be swift! The chase is on!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Thatta boy, Charlie!" Rose smiled.

"Nobody calls me Charlie."

"The ladies do."

~8~

Star woke up with a groan, shifting onto her side. "'Mmm. Five more minutes Mummy," she mumbled in her sleep, before rolling over completely and falling off the desk with a thump. "Ow!"

She sat up startled, looking round.

~8~

Dickens knocked on the door again and the young woman opened it. "I'm sorry, sir, we're closed."

"Nonsense!" Dickens scoffed. "Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule." Rose snorted. "I demand to see your master."

"He's not in, sir." The young woman made to shut the door, but Dickens forced it open again.

"Don't lie to me, child!" He said angrily.

"I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Dickens, but the master's indisposed."

Behind her, a gas lamp flared up. "Having trouble with your gas?" The Protector asked, her face cold.

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens finally demanded.

~8~

Star turned round and noticed the corpse sitting up behind her. She squeaked in alarm and he started making zombie noises at her.

"Okay," she muttered. "Okay, corpses back to life. That's a new one," she giggled slightly, the sort of hysterical laugh you make when you're absolutely terrified. He climbed out of the coffin, moving towards Star. "I don't think I like it very much." He took staggering steps towards her. "Yeah, definitely don't like it very much."

She ran to the door and tried to open it.

~8~

The Protector forced her way in and pressed her ear to the wall, ignoring the young woman's cry of, "You're not allowed inside, ma'am!"

"There's something inside the walls."

~8~

Star backed against the door, completely terrfied. The old woman's body rose from the other coffin and Star gasped.

~8~

"The gas pipes," the Protector murmured. "Something's living inside the gas."

~8~

Star threw her hand out and knocked them both back, but they were quick to return and were gaining on her. Realising her powers were useless, she began pulling on the door again. _'Mummy!'_ She screamed in her head. "Let me out! Open the door!" She yelled out loud.

~8~

The Protector let out a growl as Star's completely _terrified_ voice filled her head, before out loud. The young woman closed her eyes in dismay as the Protector ran off to her, Rose and Dickens following.

~8~

 _'Mummy! Mummy!'_ "Please let me out!" Star almost sobbed, banging on the door as both corpses walked towards her.

~8~

The Protector charged past the man. "This is my house!" He yelled. Dickens charged past him too. He shook his finger at the young woman as she ran after them. "I told you!"

"'Scuse me?" Rose came to a stop, smiled at him ever so sweetly then slapped him round the face, the man falling sideways. She ran off after the Protector.

~8~

Star was still hammering on the door as the corpses got closer and closer. She was far too terrified for her powers to work any more. "Let me out! Somebody, open the door! Open the door!"

The old woman corpse clasped a hand over her mouth, muffling her scream. At that moment, the Protector blasted the door down. "Not my daughter, you bitch," the Protector snarled grabbing Star, who giggled slightly at the reference to her favourite book and movie series, then buried her face in the Protector's shoulder, the woman lifting her up.

"It's a prank?" Dickens guessed. "It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence."

"No, we're not," the Protector shook her head, face dark. "The dead are walking." She lifted Star's head to look at her properly. "You okay Kara?"

Star nodded, sniffing. "Yeah. I knew you were coming for me. I know you always will." She hugged the Protector tightly. "Love you Mummy," she whispered in her ear. "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens."

"Really? Awesome!" Star grinned shyly at Dickens.

"My name's the Protector. Who are you, then? What do you want?" The Protector questioned the corpses.

"We're failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form, cannot sustain, help us." Both the man and the old woman raised their heads to the ceiling. The blue gas left them with a wailing sound and both corpses fell to the floor.

~8~

The young woman, now identified as Gwyneth, was pouring them all tea while Rose was having a go at the man identified as Sneed.

"First of all you drug my niece, you knock me out and then you kidnap her, and you better not have done _anything_ to her or I will personally castrate you." The Protector stared at Rose in surprise. She had _not_ expected that.

"I won't be spoken to like this!"

"Yes you bloody well _will_! Then you stuck her in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off! And leave her to die! So come on, talk!"

"It's not my fault, it's this house!" Sneed finally exclaimed. "It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs..." Dickens looked mildly offended, Star glaring at him. "...the er, dear departed started getting restless."

"Tommyrot," Dickens snorted.

"You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps..." he trailed off.

Gwyneth gave the Protector her tea and Star a hot chocolate.

"Two sugars, ma'am, just how you like it. And an extra sugar for you, just like how your father used to make it."

The Protector looked at her retreating back curiously, before looking sharply at Star. "Extra sugar?" She arched an eyebrow.

Star made a point of drinking her hot chocolate, not making eye contact.

"One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned."

"Morbid fancy," Dickens brushed it off.

"Oh, Charles, you were there," the Protector sighed.

"I saw nothing but an illusion," Dickens said adamantly.

"If you're going to deny it, don't waste our time," Star rolled her eyes. "Just shut up."

Dickens gazed at her stunned as she went back to drinking her hot chocolate.

"What about the gas?" Rose asked, a lot calmer than before.

"That's new, Miss, never seen anything like that," Sneed admitted.

"Means it's getting stronger," Star said quietly. "The rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."

"What's the rift?" Rose asked the little girl.

Putting her cup down on the side, Star skipped over to her and Rose lifted her up. "A weak point in time and space," she said with a beam. "The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time."

"That's how I got the house so cheap." Star shook her head as she noticed Dickens slip from the room. "Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a... shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

~8~

The Protector looked into the room where Star had been locked up and saw Dickens inspecting the coffin. She smirked and leant against the door frame, folding her arms. "Checking for strings?" She called out.

Dickens glanced round to see her. "Wires, perhaps? There must be some mechanism behind this fraud!"

The Protector unfolded her arms and walked over to Dickens, running a hand through her hair. "Oh, come on, Charles. All right. Star shouldn't have told you to shut up." She placed a hand on Dickens' shoulder. "I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You _saw_ those gas creatures.'

"I cannot accept that," Dickens shook his head.

"And what does the human body do when it decomposes?" The Protector raised an eyebrow. "It breaks down and produces _gas_. Perfect home for these gas things, they can slip inside and use it as a vehicle. Just like your driver and his coach."

"Stop it! Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?"

"Not _wrong_ Charlie. Never wrong. There's just more to learn."

"I've always railed against the fantasies. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, that's what they were. Illusions! The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices. Great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack o' lanterns. In which case - have I wasted my brief span here, Protector? Has it all been for nothing?"

~8~

Gwyneth was lighting another gas lamp in the kitchen when Rose and Star walked in. Rose lifted Star up to sit on the side, then started washing up.

"Please, Miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!" Gwyneth tried to take the plate and cloth from her.

"Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death." Rose handed her the cloth to dry up.

"How much do you get paid?" Star asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.

"Eight pound a year, Miss," Gwyneth replied, quite shyly.

"That much?" Rose asked in surprise.

"I know. I would've been happy with six."

Rose looked dumbfounded. Star shook her head and leaned over to whisper in Rose's ear. "1869 remember. Things are different."

"So, did you go to school or what?" Rose asked, shaking her head.

"Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper."

"What, once a week?"

"We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second," Gwyneth told them in a stage whisper.

"Me too."

"I've not actually been to school yet," Star said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side. "I would have started at 8 years old, but we had to leave when I was only 7, so I didn't get to go. Mummy and Daddy have taught me all that I know and Auntie's library is _humongenormous_!" She beamed at them. "Is school really that bad?" Rose nodded solemnly. "Huh. Well I am glad I didn't go then. I would have had to go till I was 18, or 180. Imagine that?"

They all laughed, Rose ruffling Star's hair.

"Don't tell anyone," Gwyneth said, as if it were something compeltely outrageous, "but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!"

"Mummy did that with Daddy and Uncle Kossy. They went travelling everywhere," Star grinned.

'I did plenty of that," Rose agreed. "I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. And we used to go and look at boys!"

Gwyneth stopped laughing at once and looked scandalized. "Well, I don't know much about that, Miss," she said, turning back to the washing up.

"Come on, times haven't changed that much! I bet you've done the same."

"I don't think so, Miss."

"Gwyneth! You can tell me! Bet you've got your eye on someone." Rise winked at her, Star shaking with silent laughter.

"I suppose. There is one lad..." Rose looked extremely chuffed, bumping fists with Star. "The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him!"

"Oh, I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum."

Star's eyes widened and again, Gwyneth looked shocked. "Well, I have never heard the like!"

Rose just laughed. Then, Gwyneth laughed too. "Ask him out!" Rose beamed. "Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start."

"I swear, it is the strangest thing, Miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild thing! Both of you!"

Star shrugged lazily. "Maybe I am," Rose mused, also shrugging. "Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr Sneed."

"Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve," Gwyneth explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rose apologised quickly.

"Thank you, Miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dads are up there waiting for you too, Misses."

All the colour left Star's face. "Maybe," Rose muttered.

"Who told you Daddy was dead?" Star asked quietly.

Gwyneth semed to realise what she had said and turned quickly back to the washing up. "I don't know, must've been the Protector."

"My father died years back," Rose told them.

"Daddy died in the War," Star began chewing on her thumbnail.

"You've been thinking about him lately, more than ever," Gwyneth said to Rose.

"I s'pose so... how do you know all this?" Rose demanded.

"Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you Miss?"

They laughed, not noticing that Star was chewing on her nail. "No, no servants where I'm from," Rose denied.

"And you've come such a long way," Gwyneth murmured.

"What makes you think so?"

"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that." She stared at Rose intently. "All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And the noise... and the metal boxes racing past... and the birds in the sky... they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People flying. And you, you've flown so far, further than anyone!" Her head snapped to Star, who squeaked. "And you. The child of a running man and an abomination, the drums in your head... the pain you will feel...the little lost girl so far from the burnt orange sky... the child who dreams bad dreams every night... the scared girl who hides behind a smile..." she looked back to Rose. "The things you've seen... the darkness... the big bad wolf..." Gwyneth staggered backwards, afraid. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Misses!"

"S'alright..." Rose mumbled, lifting Star up, who looked shell-shocked.

"I can't help it, ever since I was a little girl," Gwyneth panicked. "My mum said I had the sight. She told me to hide it!"

"But it's getting stronger," the Protector said from the doorway, holding out her arms to take Star from Rose. "More powerful, is that right?"

Star buried her head in the Protector's neck.

"All the time, ma'am. Every night. Voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift," the Protector explained. "You're part of it. You're the key."

"I've tried to make sense of it, ma'am. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts."

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

"What to do where, ma'am?"

"We're going to have a _seance_!"

"Oh no," Star mumbled. The Protector poked her head.

~8~

Star sat at the table, in between Gwyneth and the Protector.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists," Gwyneth told them. "Down in Mid Town. Come. We must all join hands."

"I can't take part in this," Dickens decided, getting up to walk away.

"Humbug? Come on, open mind."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

"Oi!" Star narrowed her eyes at him.

"Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium." The Protector grinned round at them all.

"I can't believe you just said that," Rose did a mental face-palm.

"Come on, we might need you," the Protector batted her eyelashes. Liss wasn't the only one who could use her eyes to get what she wanted. Dickens sat down again. "Good boy Charlie." She grabbed her daughter's hand, squeezing it. "Now, Gwyneth. Reach out."

"Speak to us," Gwyneth called. "Are you there? Spirits?" Dickens rolled his eyes. Star tensed up suddenly, the Protector looking at her sharply. "Come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."

Gwyneth raised her eyes to the ceiling. A murmuring filled the room.

"Can you hear that?" Rose asked.

 _'Kara?'_ The Protector called out to her daughter. _'You alright?'_

She received no answer.

"Nothing can happen," Dickens snorted. "This is sheer folly."

"Look at her," Rose pointed out. The Protector was too busy watching Star, whose face was turning to fear.

"I feel them. I feel them!"

The gas creatures began to fill the room. "What're they saying?" Rose questioned.

"They can't get through the rift," the Protector replied after a moment, still keeping her eyes on Star. "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through."

 _'I can't!'_

It wasn't Gwyneth.

"Yes you can," the Protector said forcefully, ignoring the looks she was getting. "Just believe it. I have faith in you. Make the link."

Gwyneth looked almost pained. Star's eyes were scrunched up, her hand clenching the Protector's. Then suddenly, they both lowered their heads and opened their eyes.

"Yes," Gwyneth murmured.

Three gaseous figures appeared behind them - the Gelth. Dickens' mouth dropped open.

"Great God. Sprits from the other side!" Sneed exclaimed.

"The other side of the universe," the Protector corrected.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us."

Rose gasped. The Gelth were speaking through not just Gwyneth, but Star as well. She noticed how tense the Protector looked and gulped. If anything were to happen to Star...

"What do you want us to do?" She asked, seeing the Protector was in no fit state to talk.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Not the child, she is weak. Make the bridge." The Gelth had singsong voices, childlike and innocent. Something about them didn't sit right with Rose.

"What for?" The Protector asked tightly.

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

"Why, what happened?" The Protector asked.

"Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came."

"War? What war?" Dickens asked.

"The Time War."

The Protector closed her eyes. _'Mummy...'_ it was barely a whisper. Rose glanced at her when she heard a slight growl.

"The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

A tear slid down Star's face. _'Mummy!'_ Her call was stronger that time.

"So that's why you need the corpses," the Protector's voice and face betrayed no emotion.

"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!"

"But we can't!" Rose exclaimed.

"Why not?" The Protector looked at her.

"It's not... I mean, it's not..." Rose couldn't find the words.

"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their _lives_."

They stared at each other for a moment. _'Mummy!'_

"We were wrong," the Gelth said suddenly. "The child is strong. She is stronger than the girl. Use the child-"

" _No._ " Rose jumped, startled. She had never heard the Protector sound so angry before. "We are _not_ using Liss."

"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!"

They disappeared and Gwyneth collapsed forwards onto the table. Star swayed for a moment, before she was pulled into the Protector's arms. Rose got up immediately and went to Gwyneth. "Gwyneth!"

"All true," Dickens mumbled.

"Are you okay?" Rose shook Gwyneth slightly.

"It's all true."

The Protector was silent, checking over her daughter.

~8~

Rose was mopping Gwyneth's forehead as she lay asleep on a couch. Slowly, her eyes opened. She fidgeted. "It's alright. You just sleep."

"But my angels, Miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?"

"No," Star said, the Protector carrying her over. "They need us. We're their only chance if survival."

"No," the Protector shook her head. "They need Gwyneth."

"I've told you, leave her alone," Rose said angrily. "She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles."

The Protector leant her head back and sighed. Rose turned back to Gwyneth and offered her a drink. "Drink this."

"Well, what did you say, Protector?" Sneed asked. "Explain it again. What are they?"

"Aliens," the Protector and Star replied.

"Like... foreigners, you mean?"

Star giggled and nodded. "Pretty foreign, yeah," she agreed. "From up there." She pointed skywards.

"Brecon?"

"Close," the Protector smiled slightly. "They've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."

"Which is why they need the child..." he trailed off seeing the Protector glaring at him. "Or the girl," he ammended.

"They're not having her," Rose snapped.

"But she can help," the Protector gave her a hard stare, not letting on to her real reason. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."

"Incredible," Dickens breathed. "Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers."

"Good system," the Protector nodded. "It might work."

Rose got up and walked over to the Protector and Star. "You can't let them run around inside dead people!"

"Why not? It's like recycling."

Star gave her mother a searching look. She wasn't telling them something.

"Seriously though, you can't," Rose shook her head.

"Seriously though, I can."

"It's just... wrong! Those bodies were _living people_! We should respect them even in _death_!"

"Do you carry a donor card?" The Protector asked her.

"That's different, that's..."

"If it were Daddy would you let them?" Star asked suddenly. The Protector looked at her sharply. "If it were any of the Time Lords bodies, would you want them running about in them? Mummy, I would hate that. To see the person I loved up and walking about again, but knowing it isn't actually them. I'd hate it."

"I'd hate it if it were my Dad," Rose agreed.

"Yeah," the Protector sighed. "So would I." She kissed her daughter's forehead. "But we have to give them a chance. They're dying Kara. You heard what they said, time's short. The last of the Gelth could be dying."

"I don't care, they're not using her," Rose snapped.

"Would you rather it be Star?"

Rose's eyes widened.

"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth cut in. They all turned to look at her.

"Look. You don't understand what's going on," Rose tried.

"You would say that miss. Because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."

"That's not fair!"

"It's true, though," Gwyneth fixed her with a hard stare. "Things might be very different where you're from. But here and now, I know my own mind. And the angels need me. Protector, what do I have to do?"

"You don't have to do anything," the Protector told her gently.

"They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on a holy mission. So tell me."

 _'Gwyneth, you know they're lying right?'_ Star spoke in her mind. Gwyneth nodded with a smile. _'Then why are you agreeing to this?'_

 _'I know they hurt you child. If I don't do this, they'll make you do it. I'm saving you child.'_

Star sniffed, wiping her eyes. _'Thank you.'_

The Protector looked at her. "We need to find the rift." She approached Sneed and Dickens. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

"That would be the Morgue."

"No chance you were gonna say "gazebo", was there?" Rose muttered disgruntled.

Everyone looked at her oddly.

~8~

The key turned in the Morgue, and they all trouped in, lead by the Protector. "Talk about Bleak House," said woman muttered.

"The thing is, Protector, the Gelth don't succeed," Rose pointed out. "'Cause I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869."

"Time's in flux," Star shrugged. "It's changing every second. Your cozy little world could be rewritten like that." The Protector clicked her fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."

"Protector, I think the room is getting colder," Dickens warned them.

"Here they come."

The Gelth flooded into the room. Their leader positioned itself in an archway. It had the voice of a child. "You have come to help! Praise the Protector! Praise her!"

"Promise you won't hurt her!" Rose called out.

'Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth ignored her request.

"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?"

"My angels. I can help them live," Gwyneth smiled.

"Okay, where's the weak point?" The Protector asked.

"Here, beneath the arch."

Gwyneth moved closer to the arch. "Gwyneth!" Star halted her in her tracks. The girl turned to look at the little girl who ran and hugged her. "Thank you."

Gwyneth smiled and positioned herself beneath the arch. "Beneath the arch."

Rose rushed to her as Star grabbed the Protector's hand. "You don't have to do this."

Gwyneth placed her hands on Rose's cheeks. "My angels," she told her gently.

Rose staggered backwards.

"Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!"

"Yes. I can see you! I can see you! Come!"

"Bridgehead establishing."

"Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!"

"It is begun! The bridge is made!" Gwyneth's mouth opened and the Gelth poured out of it. "She has given herself to the Gelth!"

"There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Dickens noticed.

"The bridge is open. We descend." Suddenly, the figure became demonic. The gas turned from blue to red. "The Gelth will come through in force."

"You said that you were few in number!" Dickens remembered.

"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses."

The bodies rose.

"Gwyneth... stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you..." Mr Sneed attempted to get Gwyneth to close the bridge.

"Mr. Sneed!" Star gasped, grabbing him and pulling him down, just in time. The Protector and Rose leapt back.

"I think it's gone a little bit wrong," the Protector said shakily. She reached out and pulled Star to her, moving backwards as the corpses advanced on them.

"We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead."

They were backing the Protector, Star and Rose against a dungeon door. The Protector lifted Star onto her hip, the little girl burying her head in the Protector's shoulder. "Mummy," she whimpered.

"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back! Now!" The Protector yelled.

"Three more bodies. Make them vessels for the Gelth."

"I... I can't!" Dickens panicked. "I'm sorry!" The Protector glanced round and spotted the dungeon door. She pushed Rose in there with herself and slammed it shut again so they were locked in there. "It's too much for me! I'm so..." He jumped and ran from the Morgue with Sneed as one of the Gelth screeched and swooped at him. The corpses were clambering to get in the dungeon.

"Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."

"I trusted you. I pitied you!"

"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh."

They were rattling the door. Star kept screaming every time it made a clang. "Not while I'm alive," the Protector snarled.

"Then live no more."

"Mummy!" Star screamed. "Mummy, please!" The Protector flattened herself against the wall, same with Rose.

"But I can't die," Rose gasped. She looked at the Protector for reassurance. "Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?!"

"I'm sorry."

"But it's 1869," Rose protested. "How can I die now?"

"Time isn't a straight line," the Protector sighed. "It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here."

" _We_ brought her here," Star corrected with a sniff.

"It's not your fault," Rose told them. "I wanted to come."

"What about us, huh?" The Protector smiled fondly. "We saw the fall of Troy! Remember that? World War Five! I helped Star with pushing boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now we're going to die in a dungeon!" She grimaced and added, "In Cardiff!"

"Mummy," Star admonished.

"It's not just dying," Rose said. "We'll become one of them. We'll go down fighting, yeah?"

"Yeah," the Protector nodded.

"Always," Star whispered, reaching out to grab Rose's hand.

"Together?" Rose asked as the Protector put Star down, holding her hand.

"Yeah!" They all squeezed each others hands. "I'm so glad I met you."

Rose looked up at her, slightly surprised. "Me too."

"Me three," Star piped up.

They smiled down at her. At that moment, Dickens rushed into the room. "Protector! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!"

"What're you doing?" Star tilted her head to the side.

"Turn it all on! Gas the place!" Dickens demonstrated his idea.

"Brilliant," Star breathed. "Gas!"

"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose snarked.

"Am I correct, Protector? These creatures are gaseous!"

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host," Star explained.

"Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" The Protector finished.

The corpses all decided to turn on Dickens instead. "I hope... oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon." The corpses advanced dangerously on him. "If not immediately," he ammended.

"Plenty more!" The Protector called, smashing a gas canister against the wall. All the Gelth were sucked from the bodies with a scream.

"It's working," Dickens smiled

Star clapped her hands as the Protector pushed the door open, letting them out. "Gwyneth! Send them back! They lied, they're not angels." The Protector spoke to the girl beneath the arch.

"Liars."

"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"

"Can't breathe," Rose choked out.

"Charles, get them out," the Protector ordered.

"I'm so sorry Gwyneth," Star mumbled.

Dickens grabbed Rose's arm, but she shook him off and picked up Star. "I can walk." She nodded once to the Protector, who smiled at her gratefully, then left the morgue.

"They're too strong," Gwyneth muttered.

"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people, none of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift."

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." Her hand went to her apron pocket and she took out a box of matches. "Leave this place!"

"Oh Gwyneth." The Protector held her hand out for the matches. "Now give that to me.

Gwyneth did not respond.

~8~

Dickens lead Rose and Star back through the dark house, filled with gas. "This way!"

~8~

The Protector placed her hand on Gwyneth's neck, feeling for a pulse. Her face fell. "I'm sorry. Star knew didn't she?" Gwyneth nodded. "You saved her. Thank you." She ran from the Morgue.

~8~

The whole house went up in flames, just as the Protector dived out of the doorway to join Rose, Star and Dickens. Rose fixed her with a look that plainly asked why Gwyneth was not with her. The Protector looked back at her. "She didn't make it."

"I'm sorry. She closed the rift."

Star closed her eyes, swept up in a hug by the Protector.

"At such a cost. The poor child."

Rose had not looked away from the Protector. "I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes."

"What do you mean?"

"Gwyneth was dead from the minute she stood beneath the arch," Star said quietly. "She knew, but she did it to save me, cos she knows I would've done it."

"But... she can't have, she spoke to us. She helped us - she saved us. How could she have done that?"

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy," Dickens told her thoughtfully. "Even for you, Protector."

"She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know."

All four of them gazed at the burning house.

~8~

The Protector, Star, Rose and Dickens arrived back at the TARDIS. "Right then, Charlie-boy, I've just got to go into my um... shed. Won't be long!" She fit the key in the lock.

"What're you going to do now?" Rose asked the author.

"I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."

"You've cheered up!" Star noted

"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world and now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Protector! I'm inspired. I must write about them!"

"Do you think that's wise?" Rose looked at him.

"I shall be subtle at first," Dickens said. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word! Tell the truth!"

"Good luck with it," Star beamed. "Nice to meet you."

The Protector shook Dickens' hand. "Fantastic." She turned back to the TARDIS door.

"Bye, then. And, thanks." Rose kissed him on the cheek. Dickens looked taken-aback.

"Oh, my dear, how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand, in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"

"You'll see. In the shed." Star pushed open the door of the TARDIS.

"Oh, my soul. Protector, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this: who are you?"

There was a pause and Star turned to look at him. "Just some friends. Passing through." She winked at him. "The stuff of legend."

"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Star, do they last?"

"Oh, yes!" Star grinned.

"For how long?"

"Forever!" Dickens tried to look pleased and modest at the same time. "Right. Shed. Come on, Rose, Lissi..."

They all turned to the door.

"In, in the box? All of you?"

"Down boy," the Protector winked. "See ya!"

The trio entered the TARDIS and shut the door after them.

"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked as Star jumped up onto the railing and scaled up one of the columns. She swung her legs up and let go with her arms, falling sideways to be upside down.

"In a weeks time it's 1870," she called down. "That's the year he dies."

"Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story."

The adults looked at the screen where they could see Dickens was still standing outside. "Oh, no! He was so nice."

"But in your time, he was already dead!" The Protector pointed out. "We've brought him back to life! He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give him one last surprise."

She hit a button and the engines revved up. They smiled as they watched Dickens' face when the TARDIS disappeared before his eyes.

 **A.N: So Star loves Harry Potter, she clearly got that from her father. And what's this about the drums in her head? The Gelth could speak through her too, but Gwyneth still died. Sneed survived though, not sure how good that is. And Rose is threatening people with castrations now. Yikes, wouldn't want to get on her bad side! Also a bit about Time Lord/Lady ageing and school. Remember the school, too young to go bit. It will be important.**

 **That's all folks!**


	7. Bringing Back Traditions

Star reached up, trying to pull a book off the shelf. "C'mon, c'mon," she muttered, her fingers brushing against it. She leaned up on her tiptoes as far as she could, but still couldn't get the book off it. "Oh come on!"

She pushed herself up higher, then yelped as her foot slid out from underneath her. Star went falling towards the bookcase, twisting away from it, before realising she was falling towards the swimming pool, only to fall into a pair of arms instead. "Auntie Rose!"

"Careful there," Rose smiled, setting her in her feet. "You alright?" She asked as she got the book for the little girl.

"Yup!" She grinned at the blonde and skipped over to the sofa. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, the first one." She flopped down on the chair, folding her legs.

Rose eyed her carefully, grabbing another book and sitting down to read it. She didn't pay any attention to it, watching Star who, despite having her eyes fixed to the book, was not reading it.

"You alright?" She asked the girl.

Star closed her book and jumped on Rose, hugging her tight. "Promise you won't leave me?" She whispered. Reciprocating the hug, Rose pulled the little girl closer.

"Never."

"I was so scared," Star told her, leaning on Rose. "I couldn't get out and my powers weren't working. And I didn't know if you or Mummy were coming for me."

"Hey," Rose said firmly. "If there's one thing you can always, _always_ rely on, it's that me and Tori will always come and find you. No matter where you go, no matter how hard it is or how dangerous it'll be for us, we will always find you. Doesn't matter how long it takes. Just know that we're always coming. Always."

She pulled Star into a tight embrace, stroking the little girl's hair. The Protector ruffled Rose's hair, the blonde squeaking. "I promise too," she smiled. Laughing, the Protector put on hand on the back of the sofa and jumped over it, flopping down next to the girls.

"Mummy," Star gasped.

The Protector smirked and pulled daughter to her, tickling her sides. "Mummy!" Star shrieked with laughter, squirming around and trying to get away. "Mummy stop!"

Watching them, Rose laughed hysterically. "C'mon Tori," she finally got out through her laughter. "That's enough now." Gasping for air, Star flopped down onto the floor, the Protector breathing heavily. "You're hilarious you are," Rose added, swinging her legs up onto the Protector's lap. Star jumped up onto them, making Rose squeal.

"Can we have some Hot Chocolate?" The Protector called, picking up Star's book. Three mugs of steaming hot chocolate appeared on a table in front of them. "Thank you."

"Mummy, the hot choclate?" Star gasped, her eyes lighting up.

The Protector smiled and nodded. "It's a tradition and I know your Daddy would want us to continue it," she told her daughter. _Just like Koschei wanted._

 _A young girl sat cross legged in the library reading a book. Her hair continuously fell in her face and she pushed it back behind her ear. Suddenly, two boys jumped over the back of the sofa and sat down next to her, arms folded. The girl looked up in surprise._

 _"Theta? Koschei? But you said you would never set foot in the library. What are you doing here?"_

 _The sandy haired boy smirked and ruffled her hair. "We came to find-"_

 _"-you and see what-" the dark haired boy took over._

 _"-boring stuff you-"_

 _"-were doing."_

 _The girl rolled her eyes, put down her book and headslapped both of them. "Idiots. I'm reading."_

 _Theta shook his head and looked at her book. "Boring," he proclaimed a moment later. "How about Harry Potter?" A grin came over his face._

 _"Oh, with hot chocolate!" Koschei suggested to them. "Come on Azlia, please?" He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes._

 _"Oh alright," she sighed. Three mugs of steaming hot chocolate appeared on a table in front of them while Theta got Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He sat down on one end of the sofa, Koschei at the other end. Azlia settled between them, leaning on Theta with her legs on Koschei._

 _"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal..."_

The Protector sat back, Star leaning on her, Rose's legs across her lap. She opened the book to Page 1. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal..."

 **A.N: Just some light hearted fluff. Anyone know who Koschei is?**


	8. Aliens Of London

The TARDIS materialised in the middle of the Powell Estate, the door opening. Rose stepped out, Star on her hip, the Protector close behind. The Protector leant against the closed door and folded her arms.

"How long have I been gone?" Rose asked, setting Star down on the floor.

"About twelve hours," the Protector replied with a smirk. They all laughed.

"Right, I won't be long," Rose told them. "I'm just gonna see my mum."

"What're you going to tell her?" Star asked as the Protector lifted her up.

"I don't know!" Rose grinned. "I've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone, what, twelve hours?" Star giggled and the Protector snorted. "No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareens. See you later!" She walked off, only to turn back. "Oh, don't you disappear."

The Protector gave her a look to say 'as if I would' and Rose ran off in the direction of the flats.

~8~

Star wandered around the yard, kicking an empty bottle about. She spotted a poster taped to a lampost and leant back to read it properly. Going very white, Star pulled it off, turned and ran to the TARDIS, banging on the door. The Protector opened it a moment later. Not saying anything, Star handed her the poster. She read the writing _"Can You Help?"_ and saw a photograph of Rose. "Get inside, stay there!" She ordered, then took off running to the flats.

~8~

Rose opened the door to her flat calling, "I'm back!" She closed the door behund her. "It was Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in?" Her mum walked out of the kitchen holding a cup of tea. "So, what's been going on? How've you been?" Jackie looked as though she had seen a ghost. "What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night." The cup of tea fell, smashing on the floor.

"It's you," Jackie mumbled.

"Of course it's me!" Rose scoffed.

"Oh, my God," Jackie breathed, tears in her eyes. "It's you. Oh my God." She threw her arms around Rose, who looked alarmed. Then, over her sobbing mother's shoulder, she noticed several variations of the same _"Where is Rose?"_ poster.

At that moment, the door flew open and the Protector came crashing in. "It's not 12 hours," she said apologetically. "It's er... 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." She laughed nervously while Rose and Jackie both looked at her, stunned. "Sorry."

Jackie looked back at Rose, stroking her hair.

~8~

A small boy was spraying the words _"Bad Wolf "_ onto the side of the TARDIS when Star opened the door. "Oi!"

He looked up quickly, picked up his bike and rode off. Star tilted her head to the side as she read the words. "Bad Wolf?" Shaking her head, she went back into the TARDIS, humming the tune to an old nursery rhyme.

~8~

"The hours I've sat here," Jackie ranted. "Days and weeks and months all on my own. I thought you were _dead_. And where were you? _Travelling_. What the hell does that mean? Travelling? That's no sort of answer." Rose was sitting in an armchair while Jackie was giving her all she's got. A policeman was sitting in the other armchair. "You ask her," Jackie said to the PC. "She won't tell me! That's all she says. Travelling."

"That's what I was doing," Rose protested honestly.

"When your passport's still in the drawer?" Jackie demanded, gesturing to the bedroom furiously. "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did, I just... I forgot."

"What, for a year?" Jackie snorted in disbelief. "You forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here? I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?"

"Actually, it's my fault," the Protector cut in smoothly. "I sort of er, employed Rose. See, I travel about for work and I'm constantly away. It means I'm unable to look after my..." she hesitated, "my daughter. We met Rose during our travels and Alicia took a shine to her. She works for me as Alicia's babysitter slash nanny and travels round with us. Many of the places we go have no internet connection and we were unable to get her a phone charger after her phone died. We kept meaning to, but things kept popping up distracting us and we just forgot. My travels brought us back here and so Rose came to visit and explain, because she hadn't had a proper _chance_. We'll probably be leaving again either later today or tomorrow."

"And just where is your daughter?" The policeman asked.

"She's waiting for me downstairs. I told her to stay there so she wouldn't get in the way," the Protector half-lied.

"And your name? Your job?"

"Tori," she lied smoothly. "Tori Smith. I'm a travelling doctor." She smiled sadly.

"Prove it," Jackie snarled. "Stitch this!"

She slapped the Protector round the face, _hard_. _'What happened Mummy?'_

 _'She SLAPPED me!'_

~8~

Jackie and Rose were hugging. "Did you think about me at all?" Jackie sobbed. They were both crying.

Rose moved back. "I did!" She exclaimed. "All the time! But..."

"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive!"

"I'm sorry" Rose apologised. "I really am."

"Do you know what terrifies me, is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Rose? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you? I know that woman said you were babysitting, but that's not you. Why lie?" Rose couldn't answer her.

~8~

Rose was sitting on a wall and the Protector was leaning against it. "I can't tell her," Rose was saying. "I can't even begin... she's never gonna forgive me. And I missed a year? Was it good?"

"Middling," the Protector shrugged.

"You're so useless," Rose laughed.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?"

"No," Rose said immediately. "I'm not leaving Ali, I made a promise. But I can't do that to her again."

"Well, she's not coming with us." Rose burst out laughing and the Protector joined in.

"No chance," she agreed, giggling. "She slapped you!"

"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother," the Protector complained. "Except my own, but that was inevitable."

"Your face," Rose giggled.

"It hurt!" The Protector rubbed her cheek, offended.

"When you say 900 years..." Rose trailed off, staring at the Protector.

"That's my age."

"You're nine hundred years old," Rose deadpanned.

"Yeah."

"And is that human or Time Lord years?" The Protector looked at her curiously. "Ali was explaining to me about how she's 73 in human years but 7 in Time Lord years. So, human or Time Lord?"

"Time Lord," the Protector smirked.

"That is one hell of an age gap." Rose jumped off the wall. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet earth who knows they exist." Right on cue, a spacecraft narrowly missed their heads as it fell from the sky and headed for for Central London. It smashed into Big Ben, then landed with a splash in the Thames. The Protector and Rose stood up with their mouths open. "Oh, that's just not fair."

The Protector laughed gleefully, grabbed her hand, and pulled her off in the direction of the action, with a quick message to her daughter. _'Stay in the TARDIS Lissi.'_

~8~

It was complete mayhem on the streets when the Protector and Rose arrived on the scene. "It's blocked off."

"We're miles from the centre," Rose sighed. "The scene must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down."

"I know, I can't BELIEVE I'm here to see this!" The Protector beamed. "This is _fantastic_!"

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Rose asked curiously.

"Nope!"

"Do you recognize the ship?" Rose questioned further.

"Nope!"

"Do you know why it crashed?" The blonde pressed.

"Nope!"

"Oh, I'm so glad I've got you Tori."

"I bet you are!" The Protector teased. "This is what I travel for, Rosie! To see history happening right in front of us."

"Well, let's go and see it! Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS!"

"Better not," the Protector shook her head. "They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, don't want to shove another one on top."

"Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice."

"You'll be surprised, an emergency like this, there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is."

Rose looked distinctly disgruntled. "So, history's happening and we're stuck here."

"Yes, we are." The Protector nodded.

"We could always do what everybody else does," the blonde suggested. The Protector looked at her questioningly. "We could watch it on TV." The Protector looked as though that was a completely new idea to her.

~8~

" _Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared_."

Star was stood in the hallway, looking a bit out of depth as the Protector watched the TV intently. Rose moved over to her. "Why don't you head to my bedroom Ali? That one there." She pointed to a door doen the hallway. Star smiled gratefully and ran off.

" _The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family_."

The Protector turned the channel over to an American news channel. " _The military are on the lookout for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American air space have been grounded_."

She turned it back to News 24. " _The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find_."

Rose sat down beside the Protector as she turned the channel back to the American channel. " _The President will address the nation live from the White House. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies_."

Jackie came in to give Rose a cup of tea. "I've got no choice!" She was saying. "Either I make her welcome, or I run the risk of never seeing you again!" Both Jackie and her friend Marianna babbled on angrily.

"Oi!" The Protector complained. "I'm trying to listen!"

" _... his current whereabouts. News is just coming in, we can go to Tom at the embankments._ "

" _They've found a body_." The Protector raised her eyebrows. " _It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore_."

Jackie entered the room giving a bottle of wine to a couple of people. "Oh, guess who asked me out, Billy Crewe." The Protector rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

" _Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts is yet unknown_."

The TV changed channels a few times and came to rest on Blue Peter. " _And when you've stuck your things on, you can cover the whole lot_..." The Protector tried to wrestle the TV remote off a toddler on her lap. " _Ooo, look at that. Then, ice it, any colour you want...Here's one I made a little bit earlier, look at that. Your very own spaceship ready to eat. And there's something a little extra special_..."

The Protector changed the channel back to News 24. "... _in hospital_."

" _We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off - it's the closest to the river_."

The little boy hopped off the Protector's lap and stood in front of the TV screen. The Protector rolled her eyes and pointed violently sideways. "Go on!" The toddler wandered off.

" _I'm being told that... General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body. Contained inside those walls._.."

~8~

The Protector slipped outside the back door of Rose's flat. Rose emerges after her. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere!" The Protector lied. "It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all."

"Right." Rose rolled her eyes. "There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just "wandering"."

"Nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion! That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything! It's perfect!"

"So..." Rose trailed off expectantly.

"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've GOT to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" She laughed in delight. Rose smiled. "You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your Mum." She smiled and walked away.

"Promise you won't disappear?" Rose called after her. The Protector stopped and turned around again.

"My daughter," she reminded the blonde, feeling her jacket pockets. "Tell you what, TARDIS key." She handed it to her. "About time you had one." She grinned. "See you later!" Rose watched as she walked off, then looked down at the key in her hand, closed her fist around it and walked back to the flat door.

The Protector left the block of flats. There was a raucous party on the third floor with a banner hanging over the balcony saying _"THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED"._ A banner hanging from another window says _"WELCOME TO OUR WORLD"_. A woman spotted the Protector and called down to her. "Hey, gorgeous! Come back and join the party!"

~8~

Mickey emerged onto another balcony higher up. He picked up a trainer, smelled it, and made a face of disgust. He watched the Protector look at a sign in a shop window saying _"HELLO ET"_ and then did a double take as the Protector walked up to the TARDIS taking a bunch of keys out of her pocket. "Oh my God!" He ran back inside taking the smelly trainers with him.

~8~

The Protector entered the TARDIS, grinning. She ran to the console, smacked down a few buttons and turned a handle, beaming up at it when it started to move.

~8~

Outside, the TARDIS began to disappear just as Mickey ran out of the flats. "Oi, Protector! Protectoooooor!" He sprinted up to the TARDIS and threw himself at it, but just ended up hitting the heavily graffitied corrugated iron behind it and fell backwards from the impact. He got up again and brushed himself down, casting furtive looks around him to make sure no one saw him. He then walked off with as much dignity as he could muster.

~8~

The console started to smoke and looking slightly put-out, the Protector hit it a couple of times with a hammer. Amazingly, this helped, and the Protector kissed the hammer, then gazed up at the console with a childish beam on her face.

~8~

The Protector emerged from the TARDIS, which seemed to have landed squashed up in a small storeroom. She looked around in slight confusion and then made her way to the door. She turned on her sonic screwdriver, which made a loud buzzing noise. She turned it off again hurriedly. "Shh!" The Protector finished unlocking the door, puts her sonic screwdriver away and opened it.

She found herself in a room where about 20 soldiers were sitting around talking and laughing. They fell silent when she opened the door. There was a pause while they all stared at each other, then they all leapt to their feet and pointed their guns at her. The Protector grinned. Again.

A sudden scream rang out and the Protector stopped smiling, running to the door. "Defence part delta! Come on, move, move!" All the soldiers followed her from the room in the direction of the scream.

They ran down the corridors. The Protector spotted Dr Sato cowering on the floor. "It's alive!" The woman gasped.

"Spread out," the Protector said, turning to the men behind her. "Tell the perimeter it's a lock down."

She ran to Dr Sato's side and grabbed her hands. "My God, it's still alive," the woman gasped. The men were still standing there watching them.

"Do it!" The Protector snapped. They ran off and started searching the building. The Protector turned back to Dr Sato. Blood was leaking out from under her hairline.

"I swear it was dead."

"Coma, shock, hibernation, anything," the Protector listed. "What does it look like?" There was a slight sound from behind her. She turned around quickly. "It's still here." She stood up and beckoned another soldier into the room. She walked forward quietly, looking for the source of the sound. When she heard another rattling, she dropped to her knees and crawled to peer behind the desk. From the other side of the desk, the face of a pig peered back at her, snorting. "Oh. Hello!" The pig squealed in terror and ran across the room. The soldier readied his gun. "Don't shoot!"

The pig ran along the corridor. One of the soldiers pointed his gun at it and shot before the Protector could stop him. "What did you do that for? It was scared!" The soldier looked from her to the pig in alarm. The Protector crouched down to look at the pig. "It was scared." She closed her eyes, stroking the pig as it died. "Can't save everyone," she reminded herself quietly.

~8~

Dr Sato and the Protector were standing over the pig's body. "I just assumed that's what alien's look like. But you're saying it's an ordinary pig? From Earth?"

"More like a mermaid," the Protector sighed. "Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat and gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid," she explained. "Now, someone's taken a pig, opened up it's brain, stuck bits on... then they strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb. It must've been _terrified_. They've taken this animal and turned it into a _joke_."

"So it's a fake. A pretend. Like the mermaid. But the technology augmenting its brain... it's like nothing on Earth. It's alien. Aliens are faking aliens. But why would they do that...?" Dr Sato turned to face the Protector, only to find she had vanished. "Protector?" She hurried from room after her.

Dr Sato looked up and down a long corridor. "Protector?" She turned as she heard the sound of the TARDIS engines, not knowing what the sound was.

~8~

Rose's sitting room was extremely crowded, Star noted as she sat in Rose's lap. Jackie raised her wine glass in a toast. "Here's to the Martians!"

"The Martians!"

Mickey appeared in the doorway. The laughter died away as he stared at Rose in her armchair with Star. She looked around to see why everyone had gone quiet and sat up quickly, moving Star to the floor when she saw him standing there. "I was gonna come and see you," she said immediately.

He just stared at her. "Someone owes Mickey an apology," a woman said.

"I'm sorry."

"Not you," the woman looked at Jackie.

"It's not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?" Jackie gave Mickey a look and walked into the kitchen. Rose lifted Star onto her hip and followed them.

"You disappear, who do they turn to?" Mickey demanded as Rose gestured for Star to sit down. "Your boyfriend. Five times, I was taken in for questioning. Five times." Star winced, watching as Rose got a mug out of the cupboard and clicked the kettle on. "No evidence, of course there couldn't be, could there," Mickey continued. "And then I get her, your mother," he pointed at Jackie who rolled her eyes, "whispering around the estate, pointing the finger, stuff through my letterbox, and all 'cos of you."

The kettle clicked and Rose poured water into the mug, stirring it. "I didn't think I'd be gone so long," she said as she put the spoon in the sink and gave the mug to Star. "Careful Ali, it's hot."

"And I waiting for you, Rose! Twelve months. Waiting for you and the Protector to come back."

"Hold on, you knew about the Protector?" Jackie asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Mickey noticed someone trying to listen through the window into the kitchen. He slammed them shut and closed the door. "Yeah, yeah. Why not, Rose? Huh? How could I tell her where you went?"

"Tell me now."

"I might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Protector's gone. Just now, that box thing just faded away." Mickey smirked.

Star blanched, Rose swiftly taking the mug of hot chocolate from her so she didn't drop it. "She left?" She whispered hoarsely.

Rose ran a hand through her hair. Curse Mr Sneed and Gwyneth. This was their fault for taking her. "Hey Sweetie," she crouched down in front of Star, taking the little girl's hands in her own. "Remember what we promised?" Star nodded. "Remember she'll always come back to you. She loves you. The only reason she left you with me was because she didn't know how dangerous it would be and she didn't want you getting hurt. Okay?" Star nodded amd wrapped her arms round Rose's neck.

"Who the hell is that girl?" Mickey snapped. "Why the hell does she get more attention than us?"

Rose stood up. " _That girl_ ," she snarled, "is Staretalicia, the Protector's daughter. And yes, she _does_ get more attention than you."

"Well she's left you," Mickey snapped. "Some mother SHE turned out to be."

Rose took one look at Star, pale and close to tears, then slapped Mickey, his head snapping to the side with the force of the slap. "Don't you _ever_ say something like that again." She lifted Star up, storming from the kitchen and grabbing a jacket on the way out.

Mickey followed her. Jackie stayed sitting down, looking frustrated.

~8~

Rose and Mickey were standing at the spot where the TARDIS was parked. "She wouldn't just go, she promised Star. She's coming back."

"Oh, she's dumped you, Rose. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it."

Rose slapped him again and looked at Star. "She's coming back."

Jackie walked over to them. "What're you two chimps going on about? What's going on? What's this Protector done now?"

Mickey chortled. "She's vamoosed!"

"Do you _never_ learn?" She asked harshly. "She has not! 'Cos she gave me this!" She showed him the TARDIS key. Mickey gave a "so what?" sort of shrug. "She's not just my friend, Mickey, she's better than that. She's much more important than..." She broke off as the TARDIS key started to glow in time with the sound of the TARDIS engines. "I said so." The engines got louder. Rose turned to her mother. "Mum! Mum, go inside. Mum, don't stand there, just go inside. Just, mum, go..."

But Jackie was not listening to her. She was staring transfixed over Rose's shoulder, where the TARDIS was appearing out of thin air. The engines ground to a halt. Mickey pointed to the TARDIS meaningfully. "Uh?"

Jackie stared at it in amazement. "How'd you do that, then?" Rose looked at her warily.

~8~

Rose entered the TARDIS where the Protector was looking at the computer screen. "Alright, so I lied! I went and had a look, but the whole crash landing's a fake, I thought so, it's just too perfect. I mean, "hitting Big Ben" come on, so I thought let's go and have a look..." The Protector was cut off by Rose's hand connecting with her face. "Ow!"

"You left her," Rose stated simply.

"I knew she was safe with you," the Protector told her meaningfully. "Come here." She lifted Star up and hugged her. "I'm sorry Kara." She pulled Rose into the hug.

"My mum's here," Rose said a moment later. The door creaked open and Jackie and Mickey entered. The Protector looked around.

"Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic!"

"Says the one with the 73 year old daughter," Rose laughed.

"You ruined my life, Protector," Mickey spat. The Protector spun smoothly around to face him. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

"See what I mean?" The Protector looked at Rose. "Domestic." She spun back to face the computer screen.

Mickey took a few steps towards her. "I bet you don't even remember my name!"

"Ricky."

"It's Mickey."

"No, it's Ricky."

"Ricky the idiot," Rose whispered to Star bitterly, the girl giggling.

"I think I know my own name."

"You THINK you know your own name? How stupid are you?"

Jackie, who had been looking around the TARDIS with a bewildered expression, turned and ran outside again. "Mum, don't!" She looked to the Protector. "Don't go anywhere!" She looked to Mickey. "Don't start a fight!"

~8~

Jackie ran outside and back to the flats. Rose pursued her out of the doors. "Mum, it's not like that! She's not... I'll be up in a minute, hold on!"

~8~

She ran back inside the TARDIS and back to the Protector's side, where she was looking at her monitor again. "That was a real spaceship?"

"Yep!"

"So, it's all a pack of lies? What is it then, are they invading?"

Mickey was on tip-toes peering at the screen over their shoulders. "Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert."

"Good point!" The Protector said, mildly impressed and a little surprised. "So, what're they up to?"

~8~

Mickey peered curiously down at the Protector, where she was once again wedged under the console. "So, what're you doing down there?"

"Ricky," the Protector began, her voice muffled by her sonic screwdriver between her teeth.

"Mickey."

She took the sonic screwdriver out of her mouth to make herself clearer. "Ricky." Mickey rolled his eyes, irked. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"

"I suppose not..." Mickey trailed off.

"Shut it, then." She put the sonic screwdriver back between her teeth. Mickey gave her the evil eye, and moved back round the console to where Rose and Star were standing.

"Some friend you've got."

"She's winding you up," Rose told him.

"Actually she knows you upset me," Star corrected.

Mickey glared at her, still looking slightly upset. He did not answer. "I am sorry," Rose said.

"It's okay."

"I am, though!"

"Every day, I looked," Mickey told her. "On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year."

"It's only been a few days for me," Rose sighed. "I don't know, it's... it's hard to tell inside this thing but I swear it's just a few days since I left you."

"Not enough time to miss me, then?"

"I did miss you," Rose lied.

"I missed you."

"So, erm... in twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?" Rose asked gingerly.

"No."

"'Kay..."

"Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you."

"Right."

"So... now that you've come back... are you gonna stay?" He leant in to kiss her, but the moment was broken by the sound of sparks from beneath the console.

"Got it! Haha!" Rose moved to the other side of the console to join her. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of the spaceship, here we go... hold on..." she whacked the computer screen. "Come on!" She showed Rose the graphic on the screen. "That's the spaceship on it's way to Earth... see? Except... hold on... see, the spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it came from Earth in the first place," Star realised. "It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while."

"The question is, what have they been doing?"

The Protector was switching the television from channel to channel. "How many channels do you get?" Mickey asked.

"All the basic packages," the Protector shrugged.

"You get sports channels?"

"Yes, I get the football," the Protector rolled her eyes. She looked back at the screen. "Hold on, I know that bloke."

" _It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists, those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space_."

"UNIT!" Star cheered.

"United Nations Intelligence Task force, good people," the Protector explianed.

"How do you know them?" Rose asked curiously.

"'Cos she's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Protector. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's her name. Followed by a list of the dead."

Star squeaked and Rose lifted her up. The Protector glared at Mickey. "That's nice. Good boy, Ricky."

"If you know them, why don't you go and help?" Rose asked.

"They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover... and eh, better keep the TARDIS out of site. Rickey! You've got a car - you can do some driving." She walked towards the TARDIS door.

"Where to?!" Mickey demanded.

"The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship."

~8~

They stepped out of the TARDIS to the sound of helicopters. They were immediately caught out by a searchlight. The Protector took Star in her arms. "Do not move!"

Police cars and soldiers surrounded them, pointing guns at them and preventing their escape. Mickey made a run for it. Jackie ran out of the flats and tried to get to Rose but two soldiers restrained her. "No!"

The Protector and Rose were standing in the centre looking slightly confused in the searchlight. "Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest!"

Rose obeyed. "Take me to your leader!" The Protector called up, earning a giggle from Star.

~8~

Rose clambered into the back of a police car next to the Protector and Star. The door shut and they drove off. "This is a bit posh," Rose commented. "If I knew it was gonna be like this, being arrested, I'd have done it years ago."

"We're not being arrested," the Protector rolled her eyes. "We're being escorted!"

"Where to?"

"Where'd you think?" The Protector grinned.

"Downing Street!" Star clapped her hands. The Protector laughed. Rose joined in.

"You're kidding," Rose gasped.

"I'm not!" Mother and daughter cried in unison.

"10 Downing Street?"

"That's the one!" The Protector nodded.

Rose laughed with glee. "Oh, my God! I'm going to 10 Downing Street?" The Protector nodded, grinning. "How come?"

"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right," the Protector made a face. "Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, uh, noticed."

"Now they need you?"

"Like it said on the news, they're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?" She grinned expectantly at her.

"Patrick Moore?" Rose teased.

"Apart from him!"

"Hmm, Staretalicia?" The Protector hit Rose playfully, Star laughing.

"She got taught by the best!"

"Ah, don't you just love it..." Rose grinned.

"I'm telling you, Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?"

"How should I know? I missed a year."

~8~

The car pulled up outside 10 Downing Street. The paparazzi and hundreds of police men were there. The Protector got out of the car and waved at them all, grinning manically, Star holding her hand and waving just as much. Rose smiled nervously and then looked up at 10 Downing Street. "Oh my God!" She followed the Protector and Star inside.

Star folded her arms annoyed as she tried to get through all the people and actually see. She turned round, bumping into someone. "Rose!" The blonde smiled and lifted her up, shifting her round to her back.

"Better?"

"Much."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, could we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right and can I remind you, ID cards are to be worn at all times." The man, Indra, approached the Protector and gave her an ID card. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance."

"I don't go anywhere without them," the Protector denied, looping the ID card around her neck.

"You're the code nine, not them." Harriet Jones sidled up to them. "I'm sorry, Protector... it is the Protector, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside."

"They're staying with me."

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact."

"It's alright, you go," Rose smiled. "I'll look after Ali."

Harriet appeared at Indra's shoulder. "Excuse me? Are you the Protector?"

Indra looked positively exasperated. "Not now, we're busy. Can't you go home?"

"Are you sure?" The Protector asked Rose.

"Yeah, they're the experts, you should hear what they've got to say."

"I s'pose so. Don't get into any trouble. Look after Liss." The Protector followed the other experts into the room.

"I just need a word in private," Harriet pushed.

"You haven't got clearance, now leave it!" Indra took Rose's arm. "I'm going to have to leave you with security." He began to lead her away.

"It's alright," Harriet cut in. "I'll look after them. Let me be of some use." She took Rose, leading her away. "Walk with me. Just keep walking..." They walked past the guards at the door. "That's right... don't look round! Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North." She showed Rose her ID card.

~8~

The experts were sitting down in their seats. Joseph and Asquith made their way to the desk at the front. The Protector entered last and took a seat at the back of the room, reading the booklet she found on the chair extremely quickly.

~8~

Harriet was outside in the corridor talking to Rose. "This friend of yours... she's an expert, is that right? She knows about aliens?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Rose asked. Harriet broke down into tears. Rose let Star slide to the floor and took her arms awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her.

~8~

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to have your attention please," Asquith called. "As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant..."

"Now, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under every other business," the Protector cut in. "The North Sea, the satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms like there was something down there... you were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens, spaceships, pigs, massive diversion, from what?"

~8~

Harriet was back in the cabinet room and showing Rose the body suit of Oliver. "They turned the body into a suit! A disguise for the thing inside!" She burst into tears again.

"It's alright! We believe you. It's... it's alien."

"They must have some serious technology behind this..." Star said, an excited gleam in her eyes. "If we could find it..." she started rummaging around the room "... we could use it." She opened a cupboard and screamed loudly as the Prime Minister's body fell out. Rose and Harriet hurried to examine it, Star turning and burying her head in Rose's stomach.

"Oh, my God! Is that...?"

Indra entered. "Harriet, for God's sake!" He exclaimed, seeing them. "This has gone beyond a joke, you cannot just wander..." he spotted the body on the floor. "Oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!"

The Protector was still lecturing the experts, Asquith and Joseph. "If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?" She pauses, working it out. "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap."

"Ohhh!"

Indra, Rose and Harriet turned to see Margaret enter the cabinet room. Star looked up. "Has someone been naughty?" They looked at each other. Margaret shut the door behind her.

"That's impossible," Indra shook his head. "He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away!"

"And who told you that?" Margaret asked. "Hmm?" She walked to the baffled Indra. "Me." She stroked the hair from her forehead.

~8~

"This is all about us," the Protector continued. The experts all looked intrigued. "Alien experts, the only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room." Joseph farted. The Protector raised her eyebrows and fixed him with a pointed look. "Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

"Would you rather silent but deadly?" Asquith and Joseph sniggered. The Protector stared at them. Asquith took off his hat and undid the zip on his forehead while Joseph laughed manically. Asquith pulled the skin suit down and revealed the Slitheen inside. The Protector stared at him, transfixed.

~8~

Margaret pulled her skin suit, revealing herself to the disgust and shock of Indra, Harriet, Star and Rose.

~8~

Asquith finished shrugging off his skin suit. Joseph was still cackling evilly.

~8~

Margaret was now entirely out of her skin suit. She stood before Rose, Indra and Harriet who all look astounded. Star was just watching carefully, ready to protect anyone if she attacked.

~8~

Asquith, also out of his skin suit, straightened up and addressed the room. "We are the Slitheen."

~8~

Margaret roared in delight and grabbed for Indra only for a blue light to stop her. "Not today," Star narrowed her eyes, hand out, a blue light in front of the three humans and alien girl.

~8~

"Thank you all for wearing your ID cards," Joseph said, taking a weapon from his pocket, at the ready... "They'll help to identify the bodies." He pressed the button. Everyone in the room was bathed in electric light. The Protector fell to her knees in pain.

~8~

Star gasped, feeling a second of pain before the Protector closed off her mind. The blue light flickered, only for Star to push her hand forward and strengthen it.

~8~

The Protector shouted in pain as her whole body shook. Joseph had a savage pleasure in his eyes. Asquith laughed.

 **A.N: So the Protector lies and still gets a Jackie Tyler slap. She also gets a Rose Tyler slap, that's two slaps in one day. Mickey also gets a Rose Tyler slap.**

 **Hmm, wonder what Star was humming?**

 **And we start to see a worse side to the Bond Star and the Protector share at the end.**

 **But another person survives, so yay!**

 **That's all folks!**


	9. World War Three

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, but I do own Star. My twin owns Tori.**

 **Now on to the story!**

With huge effort, the Protector managed to shake the electricity from her body. Sweating, she staggered to her feet with the ID card held in her hand. "Deadly to humans, maybe." She plunged it into the chest of the Slitheen. Both Joseph and the Slitheen howled with pain.

~8~

Margaret, also covered in the electricity. Star dropped the shield, panting. Rose grabbed hers and Harriet's hands and they ran from the room, Indra just behind them. Harriet was whimpering slightly, Rose just looking terrified.

~8~

The Protector found security all gathered in reception. "Oi!" She called. "You want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street." She clapped her hands. "Come on!" She lead them in the direction of the conference room, their guns at the ready.

~8~

Star, Rose, Harriet and Indra run down a corridor. "No, wait!" Harriet cried out. They stopped. "They're still in there! The emergency protocols! We need them!" She ran back in the direction of the cabinet room. Rose followed her, but they were quickly forced to change direction as Margaret Slitheen came their way. Star squeaked as Rose grabbed her hand, pulling her along. She nearly tripped and fell, but managed to stay upright. They ran across a hallway, Rose closing the door behind them. Margaret simply leapt through it.

They arrived back in another room, shutting the door behind them.

~8~

The Protector lead security into the meeting room, where Joseph was making the finishing touches to Asquith's skin suit. They both stopped when they see the Protector and security standing there. "Where've you been?" Security started checking the bodies for any sign of life. "I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this... lightening! This kind of er... um... electricity, and they all collapsed!"

"I think they're all dead," Sergeant Price informed.

"That's what I'm saying. She did it!" Joseph pointed at the Protector. "That woman there!"

"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise," the Protector told them Joseph folded his arms skeptically. The Protector looked at the policeman next to her. "That's never going to work, is it?"

"Nope."

"Fair enough." She grinned and ran for it.

~8~

Security were hot on the Protector's tail, and she soon found herself surrounded. She put r hands in the air, grinning. "Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute this man!" Asquith ordered. Security readied their guns.

"Uh, well, now, yes," the Protector nodded. "You see, eh... the thing is... if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice..." the lift behind her pinged open. "Don't stand them against the lift!" She backed into the lift and closed the door with her sonic screwdriver.

~8~

Rose kneed a locked door as the Slitheen chased them. The lift pinged open, revealing the Protector. Margaret roared at her, and she smiled and nodded around at them all. "Hello!"

The doors shut again, distracting Margaret long enough for Rose, Star, Indra and Harriet to slip away un-noticed.

They found themselves in a room where all the doors were locked, a dead end. "Hide!" Rose hissed.

Harriet slid behind a cabinet with Indra. Star opened the doors of a small cabinet and grinned at Rose as she slid inside it. The blonde shut the door and crouched down in front of the small cabinet.

~8~

The lift pinged and the Protector stepped out on the second floor. She needed to find Star. Opening her mind again, she called out. _'Kara?'_

 _'Hi! Can't really talk, hiding in a cupboard. It's really uncomfortable.'_

The Protector laughed at Star's complaints. _'Stay there, I'm on my way.'_

~8~

Margaret Slitheen entered. "Oh, such fun! Little human children... where are you? Sweet little humeykins... come to me... let me kiss you better..." Rose bolted from her hiding place behind the cabinet to take refuge behind the curtain. "...kiss you with my big, green lips." She hissed.

~8~

The Protector ran down a flight of stairs, hearing the Sergeant barking orders in the distance. Then she heard the lift ping, and hastily backtracked and hid in a crevice next to the door. The two Slitheen walked past. "We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase," Joseoh was saying. The Protector waited until they were out of sight.

~8~

The two Slitheen, Joseph and Asquith joined Margaret. "My brothers," she greeted.

"Happy hunting?" Joseph asked.

"It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they _stink_."

"Sweat... and fear," Asquith agreed, Harriet's mouth dropping open with horror.

"I can smell an old girl... stale bird... brittle bones. A boy...not fresh, not brittle either."

"And two ripe youngsters. All hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before they snap." Margaret swept the curtain aside revealing Rose, who screamed. Harriet jumped out from her hiding place.

"No! Take me first! Take me!" Star pushed open the cabinet door and rolled out, ducking through Joseph's legs as the Protector crashed in and blasted a fire extinguisher in the Slitheen's faces.

"Out! With me!" Rose pulled the curtains down over Margaret's head and then both she, Indra and Harriet ran to stand behind the Protector. Star joined them, clutching Rose's hand. The Protector looked at Harriet and Indra. "Who the hell are you?"

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North."

"Indra. Secretary."

"Nice to meet you," the Protector grinned.

"Likewise."

The Protector blasted the fire extinguisher again. Then they ran for it. "We need to get to the cabinet rooms!"

"The Emergency Protocols are in there!" Harriet remembered. "They give instructions on aliens!"

"Harriet Jones, I like you," the Protector beamed.

"And I like you too."

The Protector bypassed a locked door with her sonic screwdriver and the Slitheen pursued them all the way back to the cabinet room.

They had no time to close the door, so instead the Protector picked up a bottle of brandy and held her sonic screwdriver to it. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol," she toled them. "Whoof! We all go up. So back off." The Slitheen hesitated. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're alien," Harriet pointed out.

"Yes. I got that, thanks," the Protector rolled her eyes.

"Who are you, if not human?" Joseph asked.

"Who's not human?" Indra asked.

"They're not human," Rose gestured to Star and the Protector.

"They're not human?" Harriet repeated in shock.

"Can I have a bit of hush?"

"Sorry," Harriet mumbled.

"So, what's the plan?"

"But she's got a Northern accent," Indra noted.

"Lots of planets have a North," Rose shrugged.

"I said _hush_. Come on!" She held the brandy threateningly out in front of her. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government, what for? Invasion?"

"Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?" Asquith snorted.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here, what is it?" Star asked.

"The Slitheen race?" Asquith questioned.

"Slitheen is not our species," Joseph denied. "Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service."

"So, you're family," Star breathed.

"It's a family business."

"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a "God forsaken rock"?" The Protector raised her eyebrows.

"Ahhh... excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability...?" Asquith asked.

"Is that what I said?" The Protector muttered to Star, who nodded.

"You're making it up!" Asquith realised.

"Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." She offered her the brandy.

"Pass it to the left first," Harriet corrected.

"Sorry." She handed it to Rose.

"Thanks."

"Now we can end this hunt... with a slaughter." Asquith flexed his claws menacingly. The Protector folded her arms.

"Don't you think we should run?" Rose asked as the Slitheen shuffled forward.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street," the Protector commented. "Star? Wanna take this one?"

The little girl nodded eagerly. "Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken. He was a nice man. I liked him. 1796, this was the cabinet room - if the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four safest walls in the whole of Great Britain."

The Protector pressed a switch near the door. "End of lesson." Every entrance to the room was immediately blocked by metal shutters. The Protector turned to Rose, Indra and Harriet. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

"And how do we get out?" Rose asked.

There was a pause.

"Ah."

~8~

"Right, what have we got?" The Protector asked. "Any terminals? Anything?"

Rose shook her head. "No. The place is antique. What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"

"I think he's too slim," Star said.

"You're right," the Protector nodded. "They're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans."

"But the Slitheen are about 8 feet, how do they squeeze inside?" Rose asked.

"That's the device around their necks, compression field, literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a big exchange."

"Wish I had a compression field," Rose muttered. "I could fit a size smaller."

Star giggled slightly.

"Excuse me, people are _dead_ ," Harriet glared at her. "This is not the time for making jokes."

"Sorry... you get used to this stuff when you're friends with her." She indicated the Protector, who was busy scanning the walls with her sonic screwdriver.

"Well, that's a strange friendship."

"Harriet Jones," the Protector mused. "I've heard that name before, Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?"

"Huh! Hardly."

"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones..." she looked as though she were struggling to remember something. _'Any idea Liss?'_

Star beamed at her and nodded. _'Yup!'_

 _'You're not going to tell me, are you?'_

 _'Nope,'_ Star grinned, popping the 'p'.

"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid," Harriet unknowingly cut into the mental conversation. "And a fat lot of use I'm being now, the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs."

"Hasn't it got like, defence codes and things?" Rose asked.

"Mummy, can we launch a nuclear bomb at them?" Star asked, moving to sit on the table swinging her legs, completely serious. It was unnerving actually. She looked very innocent, but was asking about launching a bomb at them.

Harriet stared at her. "You're a very violent little girl..."

"I'm serious!" Star pouted. "Can we?"

"Well, there's nothing like that in here," Indra piped up, having been very quiet for a while. "Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations." The Protector stopped scanning the mantelpiece with her sonic screwdriver to listen.

"Say that again," she ordered.

"What, about the codes?"

"Anything. All of it."

"Um, well... the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN," he said nervously.

"Like that's ever stopped them," Rose scoffed.

"Exactly, given our past record, and I voted against that, thank you very much," Harriet said. "The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN." The Protector was deep in thought. "Is it important?"

"Everything's important," Star told her.

"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying "Slitheen" as if it's normal." She shook her head.

"What do they want, though?"

"Well, it's just one family so it's not an invasion," the Protector decided.

"They don't want Slitheen world... they're out to make money," Star added.

"Which means they want to use something, something here on Earth... some kind of asset."

"Like what?" Harriet asked. "Gold? Oil? Water?"

"You're very good at this," the Protector complimented.

"Thank you."

"Harriet Jones, why do I know that name?" The Protector looked at Star who was smiling innocently. _'You're still not going to tell me, are you?'_

 _'Nope.'_

 _'Please?'_

 _'No Mummy.'_

Rose's phone went off, loud in the quiet room. "Oh! That's me." She took her phone out of her pocket.

"But we're sealed off," Indra looked at her. "How did you get a signal?"

"She zapped it!" Rose gestured at the Protector. "Super-phone."

"Then we can phone for help!" Harriet exclaimed. "You must have contacts."

"Dead downstairs, yeah." The Protector nodded.

"It's Mickey," Rose called.

"Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy," the Protector rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." She handed the Protector her phone. Mickey had sent her the photo of a Slitheen in Jackie's kitchen.

~8~

Rose was on the phone to Mickey. _"No, no, no, no, no, not just alien, but like, proper alien."_ Star rolled her eyes. _"_ _All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!"_

 _"I could've died!"_

"Is she alright, though?" Rose asked. "Don't put her on, just tell me."

The Protector snatched the phone from her. "Is that Ricky? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer."

 _"It's Mickey,"_ Mickey retorted. _"And why should I?"_

 _"_ Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but eh, I need you."

"You didn't choke," Star noted as Rose smiled.

"No, I didn't," the Protector smiled.

 _"It says password."_

The Protector put the mobile on speakerphone. "Say again."

 _"It's asking for the password,"_ Mickey told her.

"Buffalo," Star answered. "Two Fs, one L."

 _"So, what's that website?"_ They heard Jackie ask.

 _"All the secret information known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark."_

"Mickey, you were born in the dark," the Protector rolled her eyes.

"Oh, leave him alone," Rose sighed.

 _"Thank you. Password again."_

"Just repeat it, every time." The Protector told him. "Big Ben, why did the Slitheen hit Big Ben?"

"You said to gather the experts, to kill them," Harriet remembered.

"That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon," the Protector shook her head. "You don't need to crash land in the middle of London."

"The Slitheen were hiding, and then they put the entire planet on red alert, what would they do that for?" Rose spoke up.

 _"Oh, listen to her."_ Jackie muttered.

"At least I'm trying!"

 _"Well, I've got a question if you don't mind. Because since that woman walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter's disappeared off the face of the Earth."_

"I told you what happened," Rose protested.

 _"I'm talking to her. 'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Protector. And maybe you get off on it. And maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this - is my daughter safe?"_ The Protector stared intently at the phone.

"I'm fine."

 _"Is she safe? Better yet - is your daughter safe? Will they always be safe? Can you promise me that?"_ The Protector glanced up at Rose, who looked back at him. They stared at each other. _"Well, what's the answer?"_

"No," Star finally answered. They all looked at her. "We're not completely safe. But Mrs Tyler, Earth isn't safe either. There's just as much chance of Rose getting hurt or killed on Earth as there is travelling with Mummy. Every day someone is killed. Hit by a car, falling down the stairs, murder, drugs. It's _not_ safe and Rose knows that. But there is one thing you can be sure of when she's travelling with us. It's that Mummy will always do her best to protect her. There's a reason her name is the Protector."

There was silence as Rose pulled Star into a one armed hug. Then Mickey spoke, breaking the moment.

 _"We're in."_

The Protector rushed around the table. "Right then, on the left, there's a tab, an icon, little concentric circles. Click on that," she ordered.

 _"What is it?"_

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal," the Protector explained. "Now hush, let me work out what it's saying. It's some sort of message."

"What's it say?" Rose questioned.

"Don't know, it's on a loop, keeps repeating." Mickey's doorbell rang. "Hush!"

 _"That's not me,"_ Mickey said. _"Go and see who that is."_

 _"It's three o'clock in the morning,"_ Jackie complained.

" _Well go and tell them that."_

Star sniggered at the conversation then yawned deeply. Rose wrapped an arm round her.

"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?" The Protector asked.

 _"It's him!"_ Jackie screamed over the phone. _"It's the thing, it's the Slickeen!"_

 _"They've found us."_

Star's hands flew to cover her mouth. "Get out!" She shouted. "Get out!"

 _"We can't,"_ Mickey said after a moment, his voice shaking. _"It's by the front door. Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us."_

Closing her eyes, Star buried her head in a stricken Rose's waist. "There's got to be some way of stopping them!" Harriet cried. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!"

"I'm trying!"

 _"I'll take it on, Jackie,"_ they heard Mickey say. _"You just run. Don't look back. Just run."_

Down the phone, they heard the Slitheen smashing the door in. "That's my mother," Rose whispered in horror.

"Right!" The Protector stood straight. "If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from - which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!"

"They're green," Rose supplied.

"Yep, narrows it down." Star was nodding along.

"Uh, good sense of smell," Indra put in.

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenaline."

"Narrows it down."

Star's eyes widened as the others continued giving small tidbits of information. She went over the information as quickly as she could, then looked to the Protector who was looking lost. She heard Mickey yelling and a lightbulb went off in her brain. "Mummy!" They all looked over at her. "Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, hyphenated name." The Protector had a focused look on her face before she grinned.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius!"

"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" Star repeated.

"Oh you brilliant girl!" The Protector pressed a kiss to her forehead.

 _"Oh, yeah, great,"_ Mickey said sarcastically. _"We could write 'em a letter."_

"Get into the kitchen!" The Protector ordered.

"My God, it's going to rip us apart!" Jackie panicked after a while.

"Calcium, recombined with compression field, ascetic acid," the Protector rambled.

"Vinegar!" Star shouted.

"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet realised.

"Just like Hannibal," the Protector agreed. "Mickey, have you got any vinegar?"

 _"How should I know?"_ He retorted.

"It's your kitchen," the Protector said in a 'duh' tone.

"Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf," Rose cut in

 _"Give it here, what do you need?"_ Jackie asked.

"Anything with vinegar!"

 _"Gherkins!"_ Star made a face of disgust. _"Yeah! Pickled onions!"_ Star 'eww'ed. _"Pickled eggs!"_

"You kiss this man?" The Protector raised her eyebrows at Rose.

They heard the door break down over the phone, a few seconds of silence, then a loud 'splat'.

Having heard the bang, the Protector, Rose, Indra and Harriet all breathed a sigh of relief. Star grinned.

"Hannibal?" Rose asked.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar." Harriet explained.

"Oh. Well, there you go then." They raised their glasses in toast, and drunk. "Phew!"

Star yawned, stretching out her arms. The Protector chuckled, putting down her drink and lifted Star up. "Go to sleep," she said gently, putting Star down on a chair. The brunette curled up, her hair falling across her face. "Love you."

"Love you more." Star closed her eyes, the talking fading around her until she was asleep.

The Protector moved back over to join Rose, listening to Mickey speak.

 _"Listen to this."_

 _"Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds,"_ Joseph was saying, clearly on TV.

Frowning the Protector, Rose, Indra and Harriet crowded around the phone, listening to him. "What?"

 _"Our technicians can, baffle, the alien probes;"_ Joseph continued. _"But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations - pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because... from this moment on... it is my solemn duty to inform you... planet Earth is at war."_

"He's making it up," the Protector spat. "There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it."

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Indra asked worried.

"They did last time," Rose noted.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle," the Protector realised. "They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out."

"They release the defence codes..." Rose began.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear," the Protector finished grimly.

"But why?"

The Protector strode over and opened the metal shutters. The Slitheen were still standing outside the door. "You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth, they retaliate, fight back. World War Three, whole planet gets nuked." Margaret Slitheen, still in her skin suit, stood before the Protector.

"And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames," Margaret said gleefully. "Not crashed. Just parked. They'll be two minutes away."

"But you'll destroy the planet," Harriet gasped. "This beautiful place. What for?"

"Profit," the Protector deadpanned. "That's what the signal is beaming into space, an advert."

"Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Protector. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."

"At the cost of 5 billion lives," the Protector said disgusted.

"Bargain," Margaret shrugged.

"Then I give you the choice: leave this planet or I'll stop you."

The Slitheen all burst out laughing. "What?" Margaret cackled. "You? Trapped in your box?"

The Protector did not look remotely abashed. She stared her out. "Yes. Me."

Margaret laughed again, but nervously. The Protector fixed her in his gaze and closed the shutters. The smirk faded from Margaret's face.

~8~

 _"Alright, Protector,"_ Jackie said over the phone. _"I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do._

"If we ferment the porch, we could make ascetic acid," Harriet suggested.

"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked.

 _"There's loads of emergency numbers, they're all on voicemail."_

The Protector was standing quietly with her arms folded, leaning against the wall away from the other three. She was deep in thought.

"Voicemail dooms us all," Harriet half joked, half sighed.

"If we could just get out of here..."

"There's a way out," the Protector cut in darkly.

"What?" Rose turned to face her incredulously.

"There's always been a way out."

"Then why don't we use it?" The blonde asked.

The Protector strode over to the table and leant over to speak into the phone. "Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe." She said into the phone. "And I can't guarantee that mine will either."

 _"Don't you dare,"_ Jackie said immediately. _"Whatever it is, don't you dare."_

"That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies," the Protector sighed.

"Do it."

The Protector looked up at Rose. "You don't even know what it is, you'd just let me?"

"Yeah," Rose said simply.

The Protector stared at her. _"Please, Protector. Please! She's my daughter, she's just a kid!"_

"So is mine!" The Protector argued. "This is my life, Jackie, it's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will."

"Then what're you waiting for?"

They all turned to look at Star, who was sitting up, staring at them intently.

"I could save the world but lose you," the Protector whispered. She looked at Rose. "Both of you." They stared intensely into each others eyes for a long moment until Rose averted her gaze with a shy smile.

"Except it's not your decision, Protector," Harriet cut in. "It's mine."

 _"And who the hell are you?"_

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North," Harriet recited, Star giggling. "The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people I command you. Do it."

The Protector looked back at Rose and grinned. Rose jumped onto the table. "How do we get out?"

The Protector opened the briefcase containing the emergency protocols. "We don't. We stay here." She opened the emergency protocols. She shuffled through the protocols and then turned to address Mickey. "Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything."

 _"What're you doing?"_ Jackie asked.

 _"Hacking into the Royal Navy,"_ Mickey spoke with a tone of disbelief. After a moment he spoke again. _"We're in. Here it is, uh... H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth."_

"Right, we need to select a missile," the Protector said, ruffling Star's hair when she grinned.

 _"We can't go nuclear, we don't have the defence codes."_

"We don't need it, all we need is an ordinary missile," the Protector told him. "What's the first category?"

 _"Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A."_

"That's the one. Select."

 _"I could stop you."_ They heard Jackie say.

 _"Do it, then."_

There was a moment of tense silence.

"Ready for this?" The Protector asked, breaking it.

The silence continued for a few more seconds before Mickey spoke. _"Yeah."_

"Mickey the Idiot," Star grinned. "The world is in your hands. Fire."

 _"Oh, my God,"_ Jackie breathed a moment later.

Indra tapped the steel shutters. "How solid are these?"

"Not solid enough," Star shook her head. "Built for short range attack, nothing this big."

"Alright. Now I'm making the decision. I'm not gonna die, we're gonna ride this one out." Rose opened the cupboard door. "It's like what they say about earthquakes, you can survive 'em by standing under a doorframe. Now this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me! Come on!" Harriet and Indra hurried to help her.

 _"It's on radar,"_ Mickey reported. _"Counter defence 556."_

"Stop them intercepting it."

 _"I'm doing it now."_

"Good boy."

 _"556 neutralized."_

The Protector ripped the mobile off speaker phone.

~8~

Star, Rose, the Protector, Indra and Harriet bundled into the cupboard. The crouched in a corner, Rose and Harriet either side of the Protector who was holding Star tightly, the girl curled into her. Indra crouched in a different corner.

"Nice knowing you both." Harriet beamed. Rose grabbed the Protector's hand. "Hannibal!" They braced themselves.

The missile hit. The whole of 10 Downing Street exploded in flames. The Protector, Star, Rose, Indra and Harriet were all severely shaken around in their cupboard. Then it stopped.

~8~

The place was in ruins, smoking. Then, the Protector, Star, Rose, Indra and Harriet emerged from the wreckage. The Protector lifted Star up onto her hip, brushing her hair back. Harriet looked around. "Made in Britain."

The Sergeant hurried over to them. "Are you alright?"

Harriet flashed her ID card at him, making Star giggle. "Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down. Go on, tell the news!"

"Yes, ma'am." He hurried away again.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out," Indra commented.

"Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Well, maybe you should have a go," the Protector smiled.

"Me?" She laughed. "I'm only a back-bencher."

"I'd vote for ya!"

"So would I," Indra nodded.

"Now, don't be silly." Rose and the Protector grinned. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help."

"I'd better go with her." They climbed over the rubble towards the crowd of people. The Protector beamed at Rose.

"Hang on!" Harriet began shouting over to the crowd. "The Earth is safe! Sergeant!"

The Protector ruffled Star's hair and began walking with Rose. "I thought I knew the name," the Protector said, watching her hurry over to the cameras and ambulances. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms, the architect of Britain's Golden Age."

"I kenw you'd get it eventually!" Star beamed as her mother put her down.

"The crisis has passed! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have something to say to you all!" Star, Rose and the Protector watched her fondly from a distance. Then they turned and walked away. Harriet spoke to the camera. "Mankind stands tall, proud, and undefeated. God bless the human race." She beamed around at them all.

~8~

Rose entered her flat, and was greeted with a huge hug from a relieved Jackie. They both closed their eyes, happy to be together again.

~8~

The Protector entered the TARDIS, looking very pleased with herself. Star followed as she started the engines and grinned up at it.

~8~

Rose was sitting on the chair in front of the TV, watching a repeat of Harriet Jones' speech. _"Mankind stands tall, proud."_

Jackie walked in. "Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. Should be you on there." She addressed the TV. "My daughter saved the world!"

"I think Tori and Star helped a bit..." Rose grinned.

Jackie sat down. "Oh, alright then. Them too. You should be given knighthoods."

"That's not the way they do things. No fuss, they just... move on. Tori's not that bad if you give her a chance."

"She's good in a crisis, I'll give her that," Jackie shrugged.

"Oh! Now the world has changed, you're saying nice things about her," Rose joked.

"Well, I reckon I've got no choice! There's no getting rid of her since you're infatuated."

"I'm not infatuated," Rose rolled her eyes. "She's like...like this sister I've never had."

"What do they eat?"

Rose blinked, surprised by the change in subject. "How do you mean?"

"I was gonna do shepherds pie." Rose sniggered. "All of us. A proper sit down. 'Cause... I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and them and that life you lead. Only, I dunno, they're aliens. For all I know, they eat grass and safety pins and things."

"They'll have shepherd pie. You're gonna cook for Tori?"

"What's wrong with that?" Jackie asked defensively.

"She's finally met her match."

"You're not too old for a slap, you know." Rose giggled as Jackie got up and went to the kitchen. "You can go and visit your gran tomorrow." Rose's mobile rang. "You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing."

The caller ID on the screen of Rose's mobile read 'TARDIS calling' complete with a little TARDIS icon. Rose answered. "Hello?"

~8~

"Aunt Rose!" Star beamed, then pouted when the Protector plucked the phone from her hand.

"Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go."

 _"You've got a phone?"_ Rose asked incredulously.

"You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?" The Protector said contemptuously while Star burst into giggles. "Like I said, couple of hours... I've just got to send out this dispersal..." she pressed a button. "There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."

 _"My mother's cooking."_

"Good! Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer." Star giggled again, swinging her legs as shs sat on the console.

 _"She's cooking tea. For us."_

"I don't do that."

 _"She wants to get to know you."_

"Tough! I've got better things to do!"

 _"It's just tea."_

"Not to me it isn't."

 _"She's my mother."_

"Well, she's not mine!" The Protector looked rather pleased about that.

 _"That's not fair!"_

"Well, you can stay there if you want!" There was a paused. "But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula. Fires are burning 10 million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out - hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice." She hung up.

~8~

Rose ended the call slowly and pressed the phone to her lips, deep in thought.

~8~

The Protector paused for a second and then went back to the console, kissing Star's forehead.

~8~

Jackie went back into the living room with two cups of tea. "Rose, I was thinking..." she trailed off when she noticed that Rose's seat was empty, so Jackie walked in the direction of Rose's bedroom instead. "I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Years Eve, does she drink?" She opened the door to Rose's bedroom. Rose was stuffing some clothes into a bag. Jackie watched her. "I was wondering whether she drinks or not."

"Yeah, Tori does." She continued stuffing the clothes into the bag.

"Don't go, sweetheart," Jackie saod quietly. Rose stopped for a moment and looked around at her. "Please don't go." Guiltily, Rose continued to pack.

~8~

It was night time. Mickey was sitting reading a newspaper on a bin outside the TARDIS. The small boy who graffiti'd the TARDIS the previous day was busy cleaning it off again. The Protector poked her head around the door. "Good lad. Graffiti that again and I'll 'ave ya. Now, beat it." The little boy scurried off. The Protector grinned. Mickey glanced after him. The Protector walked over to Mickey.

"I just went down the shop. And I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is." He showed the Protector the front page of the newspaper, headlined "Alien Hoax?". The Protector gave a small smile. "How could they do that? They saw it!"

"They're just not ready," the Protector shrugged. "You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face, nope! Can't see it! There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick."

Mickey laughed. "We're just idiots."

"Well, not all of you."

"Yeah?"

"Present for you, Mickey." She handed Mickey a disc. "That's a virus. Put it online, it'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist."

"What do you want to do that for?"

"'Cos you're right. I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following me." Jackie and Rose emerged from the flats.

"How can you say that, and then take her with you?" He gestured to Rose.

"You could look after her. Come with us," the Protector offered.

"I can't. This life of yours... it's just too much, I... I couldn't do it. Don't tell her I said that."

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends, I'll pass my test and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will."

"I'm not leaving 'cos of you," Rose shook her head. "I'm travelling, that's all. And then I'll come back!"

"But it's not safe."

"Mum... if you saw it out there... you'd never stay home." She turned to the Protector, taking her backpack off her shoulders.

"Got enough stuff?" She asked sarcastically.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment." Rose threw the enormous bag into the Protector's arms. "Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Haha." She went up to Mickey while Jackie looked the Protector up and down. "Come with us. There's plenty of room."

Mickey gestured to the Protector. "No chance, he's ah, a liability, I'm not having him on board." She winked subtly at him.

"We'd be dead without him."

"My decision is final."

Rose turned back to Mickey. "Sorry." They kissed briefly. Mickey gave a small wave as she backed away.

"Good luck, then."

"You still can't promise me," Jackue rounded on the Protector. "What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Protector, and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away - how long do I wait then?"

The Protector stood there hugging Rose's backpack, not really having an answer, but Rose came to his rescue. "Mum..." Jackie spun around to face Rose. "You're forgetting, it's a time machine. I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds." She put her hands on Jackie's shoulders and smiled kindly. "So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds time. Hmm?"

A little girl poked her head out, saw Rose, squealed and ran to hug her. "Can we go swimming later?" Star asked excitedly.

Rose nodded a grin of pure joy on her face as she lifted Star up. "Sure we can sweetie. Let me just say bye to my mum." Star nodded eagerly. Rose kissed her on the forehead and set her on the floor. She ran back inside.

"You're not going because of just the travelling," Jackie said quietly as she hugged Rose. "It's because of her. That little girl."

"Always."

The Protector stepped into the TARDIS. Rose pulled back, smiled and followed her. Mickey gave a small wave and Rose shut the door, leaving Mickey and Jackie alone outside.

The TARDIS dematerialised. Jackie kept her eyes on her watch as they stood in silence, then... "Ten seconds." She walked back to the flats. Mickey settled himself back on top of the dustbin with the newspaper.

 **A.N: Star's a little violent, wonder where she gets that bit from...looking at you Tori. She's also quicker at figuring things out than her mother, but she does have the combined smarts of both the Doctor and the Protector, as well as teachings from the TARDIS. Anyone know who Koschei is yet?**

 **That's all folks!**


	10. Promises

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this Summer," Rose finished reading and glanced down to see Star had fallen asleep, her damp hair leaving a wet patch on Rose's arm.

The blonde laughed softly and put the book down, careful not to shift Star more than she needed to. Sliding her arm under Star's legs, she lifted the little girl up, Star cuddling into her.

Rose didn't notice the Protector watching as she tucked Star into her bed, placing a kiss on her forehead. She turned round, her eyes widening when she saw the Protector, smiling fondly.

"Hey," she said quietly as the Protector shut the bedroom door.

"You're so good with her," the Protector complimented. Rose shrugged. "I worry about her a lot," she added as they made their way to the kitchen. "She hides stuff from me."

"All kids hide stuff from their parents," Rose shrugged. The Protector frowned. "I'll keep an eye on her Tori. Maybe talk to her. But don't worry about it. So, tell me more about your Doctor."

~8~

 _She was running again. "Daddy!" She cried out, terrified, so terrified. The Daleks were behind her, they were coming for her. "Daddy!"_

 _"Kara!" She felt his arms go around her, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around him, burying her face in his shoulder. He ran, whispering sweet nothings in her ear._

 _"Daddy," she whimpered._

 _He put her on the floor and she looked round. No Daleks were in sight but they were coming. "Kara listen to me," he told her gently, holding her hands in his own. "You need to hide. Hide as well as you can, as quiet as you can. Mummy's on her way."_

 _"Exterminate!"_

 _He looked round. "Hide, hide now."_

 _Star shook her head. "Daddy, please!"_

 _"Kara I love you but you need to hide."_

 _"Exterminate!"_

 _She whimpered as he hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head. "I love you Daddy," she mumbled._

 _"I love you too my sweet girl," he murmured._

 _She hid, sliding down behind some rubble, backed against the wall, watching in fear. Three Daleks appeared, their gun arms twitching._

 _"You are the Doctor," one Dalek stated._

 _"Am I?" Her Daddy winked at her. "Hadn't noticed."_

 _She put her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggle._

 _"You are an enemy of the Daleks."_

 _Moving her hands to her ears to block out the grating noise, she let out a scream of pure fear as it cried out; "EXTERMINATE!"_

Rose was woken up by the sound of screaming. She shot out of bed and raced down the hall to Star's room. The little girl was whimpering and crying in her sleep. "Ali," she whispered. "Ali wake up."

Her eyes snapped open as she cried out again. Rose wrapped her arms around her, hugging the girl tightly. "Stay with me," Star mumbled, half asleep again.

Rose nodded, moving so she was laying in the bed properly, Star in her arms.

"Don't leave me," Star pleaded.

"Never," she promised. "Never ever."

 **A.N: Star had a nightmare and we discover how the Doctor died...but how did Star get away?**


	11. Dalek

Humming loudly, Star skipped down the stairs into the console room. Rose looked up, saw what she was wearing and burst out laughing. Star pouted. "Why are you wearing that?" Rose giggled.

Star looked down at her pink rara skirt, blue t-shirt, green leg warmers and sparkly gold converse, then shrugged. "Felt like it." She skipped over to the doors.

Star stepped out of the TARDIS into what seemed to be a museum. Rose followed behind, the Protector with her.

"So, what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked as Star looked round.

"Don't know, some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course..." the Protector trailed off.

They looked about themselves. "Where are we?"

"Earth," Star called over, her eyes closed and focusing. "Utah...North America. About um half a mile underground."

The Protector grinned and ruffled Star's hair. "You've been working on that," she smiled. "Well done." Rose tilted her head in confusion. "Young Time Lords have the ability to figure out where they are. Some are able keep the ability as they get older, but in others it fades. All Time Lords have the ability to figure out the time and when they are."

"So... when are we?"

"2012," the Protector smiled.

"God, that's so close," Rose breathed. "So I should be... 26." The Protector flicked a switch as she spoke and lights flooded the museum. "Blimey! It's a great big museum!"

"An alien museum," the Protector added, pulling Star closer to her. "Someone's got a hobby."

"They must've spent a fortune on this," Star gasped, moving away and walking round the exhibit, the Protector and Rose close behind her. "Chunks of meteorite, moon dust... that's the milometer from the Roswell Spaceship!" She passed the exhibits as she named them, skipping slightly. They noticed a familiar arm in one case.

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" Rose pointed out. "That's a Slitheen's arm, it's been _stuffed_."

The Protector noticed something else. "Ah! Look at you!" Inside the glass case she was approaching, was the head of a Cyberman. The Protector stared through the glass at it as Star squeaked and hid her face in Rose's side.

Rose lifted her up and stood behind the Protector. "What is it?" She asked quietly.

"An old friend of mine... well, enemy," the Protector shrugged. "The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." She sighed.

"Is that where the signal's coming from?"

"Nah, it's stone dead," the Protector shook her head. "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out." She stared intently through the glass. "Calling for help." She placed the tip of his finger gently on the glass. Immediately, an alarm went off and they were promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at them, Star letting out a scream and hiding her face in Rose's shoulder.

"If someone's collecting aliens," Rose said quietly in the Protector's ear, so Star couldn't hear her, "that makes you Exhibit A."

The Protector flashed the soldiers a dark grin.

~8~

Van Statten was sitting at a table while Adam showed him the artefacts. "And this is the last... paid $800,000 for it," he was saying as the Protector, Rose, Star and Goddard entered.

"What does it do?" Van Statten asked, taking it from Adam.

"Well you see, the tubes on the side must be to channel something, I think maybe fuel..."

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," the Protector suddenly called.

"Shut it," Goddard ordered.

"Really, though, that's wrong," she pressed.

"Is it dangerous?" Adam asked nervously.

"No," Star shook her head with a giggle, all if them looking at her. "Just looks silly." She held her hand out for the artefact. "Can I?" Van Statten handed the object to her after a moment. "You just need to be..." she ran her fingers gently over the artefact and it played a note, rather like a harmonica, grinning as Rose and the Protector watched her proudly. "... delicate."

Everyone looked suitably impressed. Star giggled and beamed around at them all whilst playing it. "It's a musical instrument," Van Statten realised.

The Protector nodded. "And it's a long way from home."

Van Statten stood and moved across to them. "Here, let me." He snatched it off Star, who flinched away, Rose wrapping an arm around her as she and the Protector glared at Van Statten.

"She did say "delicate"," the Protector ground out. "Reacts to the smallest fingerprint." Van Statten couldn't make it play and it made a series of bleeping noises. "It needs precision," the Protector continued. Van Statten touched it more gently and it played a few notes. The Protector and Star smiled slightly.

"Very good," Star complemented. "Quite the expert."

"As are you." He tossed the instrument aside, where it landed somewhere on the floor. The Protector's and Adam's eyes followed it, slightly alarmed as Star flinched. "Who exactly _are_ you?"

The Protector looked back at Van Statten with a new, slightly disdainful look in her eye. "I'm the Protector. And who are you?"

"Like you don't know," Van Statten scoffed. "We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world and you just stumbled in by mistake."

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah."

"The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down. With your little cat burglar accomplices." He looked at Rose. "Quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty."

"She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her "she"," Rose spoke up, glaring at him.

"She's English too!" Van Statten laughed. Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend"

"This is Mr Henry Van Statten," Adam said, stepping forwards. Star frowned slightly. Something about him didn't feel right.

"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Mr Van Statten owns the Internet," Adam explained.

"Don't be stupid," Rose rolled her eyes. "No one owns the Internet."

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten winked.

Star shuddered and edged behind Rose's legs, fisting a hold on her white vest top. The blonde glared at Van Statten and moved further in front of Star.

"So you're an expert on just about everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up." The Protector explained stiffly, a dark look in her eyes.

"And you claim greater knowledge?"

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am," the Protector scoffed.

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked, eyeing both Rose and the Protector, he couldn't even see Star properly.

"You tell me," the Protector arched her eyebrows.

"The cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?"

"Like you don't know."

"Show me."

"You wanna see it?"

"Tori," Rose cut in sternly, giving her a Look she could only have inherited from her mother.

"Goddard, inform the Cage. We're heading down." Goddard nodded. "You, English. Look after the girl. Canoodle or spoon, or whatever it is you British do. Look after the kid as well. And you, Protector with no name..." he stood by the lift. "Come and see my pet."

The Protector nodded to Rose silently who gave a slight inclination of her head to show she understood the message. 'Star stays with you, look after her.'

The brunette woman moved passed Adam, pausing to grip his shoulder tightly. " _You_ ," she narrowed her eyes at him, "look after them. _Both_ of them. And no canoodling or spooning. They remain unhurt. _Understand_?"

Adam nodded weakly, staring after her as she walked out. He jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder and spun round to see Rose, now carrying Star on her hip. "You heard the woman," she grinned.

~8~

Van Statten lead the Protector to the cage, talking as he did, "We've tried everything. The creatures has..." he paused, searching for the right word, "shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside." He entered a code to enter the Cage. The door to the Cage opened behind him.

"Inside?" The Protector narrowed her eyes. "Inside what?"

"Welcome back, sir," Simmons greeted Van Statten. "I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?" The Protector cocked an eyebrow.

"Thought of it myself," Van Statten boasted. "Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out its real name."

"Here, you'd better put these on," Simmons offered the Protector a pair of gloves. "The last guy that touched it... burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then," the Protector snarked. Goddard smirked.

"Go ahead, Protector. Impress me." Goddard looked at the Protector. With a placid expression on her face, she stepped into the Cage. Van Statten stepped away. "Don't open that door until we get a result." He and Goddard bent down to look at the monitor showing surveillance footage from the Cage. It was pitch dark inside - they watched the Protector enter.

~8~

The door shut behind the Protector. She looked at some of the instruments Simmons was using to torture the alien. Through the darkness, the Protector saw a blue light giving away the alien's location in the Cage.

"Look, I'm sorry about this," she said walking forwards, something not right about it. "Mr Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Protector."

There was a moment of silence, before a voice spoke that the Protector knew all to well but wished she didn't.

"Pro-tec-tor."

She blanched, stumbling back slightly. "Impossible."

"THE Protector?" The Protector watched, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly open. Lights suddenly came on, illuminating the Dalek. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Protector spun round and banged on the door of the cage, rattling it. "Let me out!"

"Exterminate! You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!" It waved its gun around helplessly.

The Protector paused when she noticed it and stepped closer to it slightly. A grin broke out on her face "It's not working!" The Dalek's eyepiece looked down at its gun. She laughed manically. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The Great Space Dustbin. How does it feel?" She lunged at the Dalek.

The Dalek strained against its chains. "Keep back!"

The Protector was inches from the Dalek, looking straight into its eyepiece. "What for? What're you going to do to me?" She received no answer. "If you can't kill... then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you?" She circled the Dalek. The Dalek followed her progress with its eyepiece. "You're nothing. What the hell are you here for?"

After a moment the Dalek replied. "I am waiting for orders."

"What does that mean?" The Protector blinked.

"I am a soldier," the Dalek explained. "I was bred to receive orders."

"Well you're never gonna get any," the Protector said, her vouce cold and hard as she stared at it evenly. "Not ever."

"I demand orders!"

"They're never gonna come!" The Protector's voice rose, raw pain evident in her tone. "Your race is _dead_! You all burnt, _all of you_. Ten million ships on fire, the entire Dalek race wiped out in one _second_."

"You lie!" The Dalek didn't sound very sure

"I watched it happen," the Protector snarled. "I MADE it happen!"

"You destroyed us?" The Dalek asked, it's grating voice a lot quieter.

The Protector's face fell. She walked away, her back turned on the Dalek. "I had no choice," she mumbled.

"And what of the Time Lords?"

The Protector paused. "Dead," she finally answered. "They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"And the coward survived."

The Protector closed her eyes. "Oh, and I caught your little signal," she said mockingly. "... help me... poor little thing," she shook her head, resuming normal tone. "But there's no one else coming 'cos there's no one else left."

"I am alone in the Universe," the Dalek realised.

The Protector smiled. "Yep."

"So are you."

She smiled wider and shook her head. "No," she said almost apologetically. "I thought I was, but I'm not. I have people who love me, I'm not alone."

"We are the same," the Dalek responded, almost pleading.

The Protector spun around to face the Dalek not angry, just a little upset. "We're not the same," she said with a sad smile. "I have Star."

"Staretalicia?"

Her eyes narrowed. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Daughter of the Doctor?"

The Protector blanched in horror, losing all colour in her face. "Oh my God," she breathed. "You're the Dalek that killed my husband."

"Correct."

"And you tried to kill my daughter," she added, her voice strained and holding back her anger.

"Correct."

"Maybe we are the same," she conceded. "You're right, yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cos I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve." She raised her eyebrows. "Exterminate." She pulled a lever on the control panel and the Dalek was immediately engulfed by electricity. It started screaming again.

"Have pity!"

"Why should I?" She yelled, tears on her eyes. "You never did." She turned up the voltage.

"Help me!"

Security burst in and grabbed the Protector before she could lunge for the control panel again. Van Statten addressed the Dalek. "I saved your life, now talk to me! Goddamn it, talk to me!"

"You've got to destroy it!" The Protector yelled as she was dragged away.

"The last in the Universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek." Silence. "I am Henry van Statten, now recognise me!" It still refused to answer. He turned to Simmons. "Make it talk again, Simmons." Simmons approached the Dalek with a greedy look in his eye. "Whatever it takes."

~8~

Star looked around Adam's workshop with interest, going through some things. "Sorry about the mess," Adam said. "Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing. So long as I deliver the goods..." Rose prodded a few things on the surfaces. "What do you think that is?" He handed Rose an object.

"Er... a lump of metal?"

"Yeah. Yeah, but I think... well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft."

Star looked at it. "Oh," she gasped. "That's part of the hull of the Roswell Spaceship! Mummy blew it up," she giggled.

Rose finished examining the lump of metal and placed it down carefully. "Why am I not surprised?" She teased.

"The thing is," Adam continued, "it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecrafts, aliens, visitors to Earth, they really exist."

"That's amazing," Rose winked at Star who giggled.

"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe that the whole universe is teeming with life," Adam said passionately.

Rose smiled slightly, moving to stand behind Star. "I'm gob-smacked, yeah," she agreed, running her hands through the little girl's hair.

"And you do what?" Star asked, looking up at him. "Sit here and catalogue it?"

Adam grinned, "Best job in the world."

Star leant against the counter, closing her eyes with a serene smile. "Imagine if you could get out there," she said dreamily. "Travel amongst the stars and see it for real."

"Yeah... I'd give anything," Adam nodded. "But I don't think it's ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes." He shrugged.

"Oh, you never know..." Rose smiled. "What about all those people who say they've been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?"

"I think they're nutters," Adam said bluntly.

"I don't think so," Star disagreed, opening her eyes. "There are more things in this universe than the human race can ever explore or understand. The universe is a big place and we certainly haven't seen it all." She fixed him with a hard stare. "Who's to say they weren't telling the truth?"

Adam stared at her, not quite sure what he could say in answer to that.

"So, how'd you end up here?" Rose broke the tense silence.

"...Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit," Adam answered after a moment.

"Ah, right, you're a genius," Rose rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, but yeah... can't help it, I was born clever." Rose smiled tightly at his boasting, noticing Star tensing. "When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System, nearly caused World War Three."

"What, and that's _funny_ is it?" Star snapped, not yelling, but angry. "People die in war, if you had caused World War Three, all those deaths would've been on _your_ hands! That's _awful_!"

She pulled away from Rose sharply and stormed out of the room, only pausing to tell Rose to not go after her and that she would be fine. "I'm just going back to the TARDIS," she said and left.

"Well you should've been there," Adam muttered. "Just to see them running about. Fantastic."

"She's right though," Rose said, giving him a Look. "The Protector would hate to hear you say that. Even if you do sound like her."

"So, you and them...?" Adam trailed off.

"Tori's my...sister, Star's my niece," Rose said hesitating slightly. She glanced at the door. "So... wouldn't you rather be downstairs?" She changed the subject. "I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr Van Statten's got a living creature down there."

"Yeah... yeah well I did ask but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it does take long to patch in on the comms system." He grinned smugly.

Rose rolled her eyes as she laughed. "Let's have a look then."

Adam turned to the computer and tapped some keys and Rose observed over his shoulder. "It doesn't do much, the alien," Adam informed her apologetically. "It's weird, it's kind of... useless, it's just like this... great big pepper pot."

They access the screen that surveyed the Cage. They watched Simmons approach the Dalek and begin to torture it with one of the devices. The Dalek screamed again. "It's being tortured!" Rose exclaimed in alarm. "Where's Tori?"

"I don't know."

"Take me down there. Now," she ordered and strode from the room.

~8~

Star skipped along the corridor, pausing every so often to look at a different alien artefact in a case. She stopped just before reaching the TARDIS, the bond to her mother closing off. Though she could still feel her, she turned and ran back the way she came, heading downstairs, not that she knew where she was going.

~8~

The Protector, Van Statten, Goddard and the security guards stepped into the lift, the Protector still pale. "The metal's just battle armour," she explained. "The real Dalek creature's inside."

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked curiously.

"A nightmare," the Protector answered darkly, scowling. "It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered, every single emotion was removed except _hate_."

"Genetically engineered... by whom?" Van Statten sounded impressed, making her scowl more.

"By a _genius_ , Van Statten," the Protector told him, her voice full of hate. "By a man who was king of his own little world, you'd like him."

"It's been on Earth for over fifty years," Goddard said dissmisively. "Sold at a private auction moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?"

"Because I'm here. Because _Star's_ here." Her face darkened. "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

"Records say it came from the sky like a meteorite," Goddard told her. "It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burnt in its crater for nearly three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must've gone insane," she realised, slightly upset.

"Must've fallen through time," the Protector mused. "The only survivor."

"You talked about a war?"

"The Time War," the Protector sighed. "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived too," there was a hidden glee in Van Statten's words.

"Not by choice." A lie. She survived for Star.

"This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Protector, there's you. You and your daughter. The only ones of your kind in existence."

The Protector lunged forwards so quickly and pinned Van Statten to the wall by the neck, that none of them could stop it. "Touch my little girl and I will _end you_ ," she snarled in his face. "If my girl gets hurt because of you I will end you ever having children with a blunt pair of scissors, coated in lemon juice."

She smirked when she heard a whimper as she was dragged away.

~8~

Lights flashed on, illuminating the Protector. They had chained her up against a rack and striped her torso, even her bra, which ended in a few burns for the offenders. Van Statten stood behind an instrument pointing at the Protector. "Now, smile!"

She glared at him, only the threat of them hurting Star stopping her from blasting her way out.

The instrument ran some sort of scan over the Protector's torso. She moaned slightly in pain, grimacing. The scan image showed the Protector's ribcage with two hearts beating within it.

"Two hearts!" Van Statten exclaimed with a laugh. "Binary vascular system! Oh, I am so going to patent this."

The Protector raised her head to glare at him, thankful that she had closed the bond to Star. "So that's your secret," she gasped out. "You don't just collect this stuff, you _scavenge_ it."

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries," Van Statten said walking towards her. "All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk, you have no idea, Protector. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian Crater, and do you know what they found?" The Protector looked at him angrily but questioningly. "The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course, no need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?" He smiled smugly.

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" The Protector arched her eyebrows. "A Dalek is _honest_. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species, that _creature_ in your _dungeon_ is _better_ than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue." He walked back to the scanner.

"Listen to me, that thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" The Protector yelled frantically.

"Nothing can escape the Cage," Van Statten dissmissed. He ran the scan again.

The Protector writhed with pain. "But it's woken up!" She yelled out. "It knows I'm here! It knows Star is here! It's gonna get out! Van Statten, I swear no one on this base is safe! No one on this planet!"

The scan was run again. The Protector groaned in pain and threw her head back.

~8~

Running down some stairs, Star looked around, trying to figure out where she was. "I'm lost," she whispered horrified. "Oh Rassilon...Mummy's going to kill me!"

~8~

Adam entered the lobby outside the Cage, followed by Rose. "Hold it right there!"

Adam flashed his ID in avery harriet Jones manner. "Level three access. Special clearance from Mr Van Statten." They passed Simons and entered the Cage.

Rose stared at the Dalek. "Don't get too close..." Adam warned.

She walked slowly up to the Dalek and peered into its eyepiece. It watched her. "Hello?" The Dalek simply continued to watch her. Rose was innocently concerned. "Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I've got a friend, she can help. She's called the Protector. What's your name?"

"Yes," the Dalek replied, it's voice weak.

"What?" The blonde blinked. An alien called Yes?

The Dalek raised its eyepiece to look into her face. "I am in pain," it said slowly and wearily. "They tortured me. But still they fear me. Do you fear me?"

"No."

The Dalek lowered its eyepiece. "I am dying."

"No, we can help!" Rose shook her head.

"I welcome death. But I am glad... that before I die... I met a human who was not afraid."

Rose looked overwhelmed with sadness and pity. "Isn't there anything I can do?"

"My race is dead. I shall die alone." Rose had tears in her eyes. She placed a hand gently on the Dalek.

"Rose, no!" Adam yelled, but it was too little, too late. The place where Rose had put her hand suddenly burnt bright orange and she snatched her hand away from the heat. The Dalek's tone changed.

"Genetic material extrapolated, initiate cellular reconstruction!" It burst out of its chains with a new lease of life. Sparks flew from it.

Simmons entered the room yelling, "What the hell have you done?" He approached the Dalek. It pointed a sucker at him. "Whatcha gonna do?" He mocked. "Sucker me to death?" The Dalek proceeded to do just that. It placed the sucker over Simmons face and they heard his skull cracking as it sucked inwards. Rose and Adam rushed outside.

"It's killing him! Do something!" Rose panicked.

~8~

"Condition red!" Bywater announced over intercom. "Repeat, condition red! This is not a drill!"

Van Statten, still with the Protector looked up, as did the Protector, who was sweating with the pain. "Release me if you want to live," she said wearily.

~8~

In an empty corridor, Star looked up at the sound of Bywater. She began chewing her thumbnail and walked down the corridor, searching for someone or a way out.

~8~

The Protector, Van Statten, Goddard and Van Statten's security guards exited the lift and entered Van Statten's office. The Protector addressed a monitor where there was a communication link to the lobby.

"You've got to keep it in that cell," she said over the comms.

"Tori, it's all my fault," Rose said immediately, sounding upset.

"I've sealed the compartment," Bywater told them. "It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."

"The Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat."

~8~

Rose and Adam stood before the door with security, who were pointing their guns at the door. In no time at all, the door opened. "Open fire!" They shot at the Dalek.

~8~

"Don't shoot it, I want it unharmed!" Van Statten yelled. The Protector gave him a filthy look.

"Rose, get out of there! Where's Star?!"

"She went back to the TARDIS," Rose told her, her tone angry.

"Why?" There was something very wrong with Star choosing to go back to the TARDIS, she loved adventures. Also there was a very heavy feeling settling in her stomach.

"Doesn't matter," Van Satten cut in.

~8~

The Dalek advanced upon them, the bullets having no affect at all. Bywater turned to the female guard. "De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive," he ordered. "That is your job, got that?"

De Maggio turned to Rose and Adam. "You, with me."

They followed her, running down a corridor. The Dalek approached the screen displaying the Protector, Van Statten and Goddard and smashed right through it. Then electricity started to course through it. It wailed as the peeling metal bent back into shape, the rust fading away until it looked perfect again.

"Abandoning the cage, sir," Bywater said into his mouthpiece.

~8~

Goddard was tapping into a computer as Van Statten and the Protector looked over her shoulder. "We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's raiding entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."

"It's downloading."

"Downloading what?" Van Statten questioned.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down," Goddard reported.

"It's not just energy," the Protector sighed. "That Dalek just absorbed the entire Internet. It knows everything."

"Sir, the cameras in the vault have gone down," Goddard sounded worried.

"We've only got emergency power, it's eaten everything else, you've got to kill it now!"

~8~

"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately."

In another corridor Rose and Adam ran past another bunch of security guards, led by De Maggio. "Civilians! Let them through!" Rose and Adam ran out of sight.

~8~

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Van Statten shouted furiously.

"It's killing them!" Goddard exclaimed.

"They're dispensable, that Dalek is unique." He reeled as the Protector slapped him round the face.

The sound of the gunshots faded into silence as he stood back up.

Goddard showed the Protector a map of the base on the computer screen. "That's us right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek." She indicated a blue light moving along a corridor.

"This museum of yours, have you got any alien weapons?" The Protector asked.

"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them."

"We've got to keep that thing alive." Van Statten clearly hadn't learnt his lesson. "We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there."

"Leaving everyone trapped with it? Rose and my daughter are down there." She closed her eyes briefly, hoping Star was really in the TARDIS. "I won't let that happen. Have you got that?"

Van Statten stood up. The Protector turned back to the computer screen and Goddard. "It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapons testing."

"Give guns to the lawyers, technicians, anyone," the Protector decided. "Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it." Goddard nodded and got up. The Protector took her place in front of the computer.

~8~

Rose, still running, found herself at the foot of a flight of stairs. "Stairs!" She grinned. "That's more like it!" Adam ran up behind her. "It hasn't got legs, it's stuck!"

De Maggio joined them. "It's coming! Get up!"

They ran up the stairs and lookednover the banisters to watch the Dalek. It stopped at the foot of the stairs. Adam breathed a small sigh of relief. It ran its eyepiece over the stairs. "Great big alien death machine. Defeated by a flight of stairs." Adam said mockingly.

The Dalek's eyepiece rested on them. De Maggio still had her gun pointing at it. "Now, listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate, then I guarantee that Mr Van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong. But people have died, and that stops. Right now. The killing stops, have you got that?" The Dalek merely watched her, saying nothing. "I demand that you surrender, is that clear?"

There was a short pause. "El-ev-ate." The Dalek levitated in the air and floated up the first few steps of the stairs.

"Oh my God," Rose breathed.

The Dalek proceeded up the stairs. Adam looked gob smacked. "Adam, get her out of here."

"Come with us," Rose said urgently. "You can't stop it!"

"Someone's got to try. Now get out!" She pushed them away. "Don't look back, just run!"

Adam and Rose went up the rest of the stairs. The Dalek advanced. De Maggio shot at it without avail.

Moments later, Rose and Adam heard the sound of the exterminator beam and De Maggio's scream. They ran down the corridor terrified.

~8~

"I thought you were the great expert, Protector," Van Statten said scornfully. The Protector, still staring at the monitor, did not answer. "If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate, there must be something it needs, everything needs something."

"What's the nearest town?" She asked.

Van Statten hesitated, startled by the sudden change in subject. "Saltlake City."

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead." She stood straight and looked at Van Statten. "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature, that's all it needs."

"But why would it do that?!"

"Because it honestly believes they should die," the Protector ran a hand through her hair. "Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!"

~8~

Near tears, Star ran down yet another corridor, still unable to find anyone. She'd heard screaming, she wasn't stupid. Something was very wrong. _'Mummy!'_ She called out, but the bond was still closed.

~8~

The soldiers positioned themselves as the Protector spoke through intercom. "The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through." The soldiers waited apprehensively. "Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Protector, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot," the commander snarked. "Positions!" They readied their guns and waited. After a few moments, Rose and Adam ran into view, right in the middle of the open area. "Hold your fire!" Rose and Adam stopped. "You two, get the hell out of there!"

Rose and Adam made it outside the door the moment the Dalek slowly came into view. They stopped for a moment to watch it. The Dalek also stopped, and it focused on them. It then zoomed right in on Rose's face and turned in their direction. Adam grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her away, but she stopped again.

"It was looking at me," the blonde muttered.

"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us!"

Rose pulled her hand away. "I know! But it was looking right at me."

"So?" Adam asked impatiently. "It's just a sort of metal eye thing, it's looking all around!"

Rose shook her head. "I don't know... it's like there's something inside looking at me, like... like it knows me."

~8~

The Dalek made its way towards the door. "On my mark..." The Dalek looked up at them. "Open fire!" They all started shooting at the Dalek. Like before, the bullets had no effect.

"We've got vision," Goddard announced.

The Protector stood up and looked at the monitor, showing the weapons testing area. "It wants us to see."

~8~

The Dalek was looking straight at the camera, completely unperturbed by the volley of gunshots. It slowly levitated into the air until it was hovering near the ceiling. It fired it's exterminator beam at the fire alarm, causing the fire sprinkles to rain water from the ceiling. The bullets kept coming, but the Dalek payed no heed. It aimed at a man who had his feet firmly rooted to the wet ground and fired its exterminator beam at him. The rest of the team fell like flies except from the Commander and one of his men who were sheltered from the sprinklers.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

The Dalek exterminated both of them and then observed the tens of lifeless forms lying on the wet ground with their useless bullets scattered on the floor.

~8~

There was a silence in Van Statten's office. The Protector looked down, breathing heavily in shock. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, maybe we should consider abandoning this place," Van Statten said, stunned.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir," Goddar said, quietly furious. "We can't get out."

"You said you could seal the vault," the Protector remembered.

Van Statten went to the computer. "It was designed to be a bunker. In the event of nuclear war, steel bulkheads..."

"There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive," Goddard said to the Protector.

"We've got emergency power, we can re-route that to the bulkhead doors."

"We'd have to bypass the security codes, that would take a computer genius!"

"Good thing you've got me, then," Van Statten stated.

"You want to help?" The Protector asked in surprise.

"I don't want to die, Protector, simple as that. Nobody knows this software better than me."

The screen showing the footage of the basement suddenly flashed back into life. The Dalek was still standing in the middle of the open area. At first, only Goddard noticed. "Sir..."

The Protector and Van Statten also looked round at the screen.

"I shall speak only to the Protector."

The Protector slowly straightened up, not taking her eyes off the Dalek. "You're gonna get rusty."

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me."

"What's your next trick?" The Protector scoffed.

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw. Downloading the Internet." She walked around the table to be nearer the screen. "What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."

The Dalek seemed to be procrastinating. Huh. That was kind of...amusing. She almost wanted to laugh. "And?" The Protector pressed.

"Nothing." It's voice rose, fearful. "Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands."

"Then I shall follow the primary order, the Dalek instinct to destroy! To conquer!"

"What for? What's the point?" The Protector asked, exasperated. There was silence from the Dalek. "Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"Then what should I do?"

"All right then. If you want orders..." the Protector paused, "follow this one: kill yourself."

"The Daleks must survive!"

"The Daleks have _failed_!" The Protector retorted. "Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the Universe of your filth, why don't you just _die_?" She shouted this last word in passionate hatred

The Dalek was silent for a few seconds, then... "You would make a good Dalek."

The screen went blank as the Protector blanched. "Seal the vaults."

~8~

Star was curled up against a wall, her hands over her ears. She'd heard the screams, the lazer firing. She recognised that sound. Sobbing desperately, Star pulled her knees up to her chest and embraced them.

~8~

Van Statten and the Protector were busy tapping into the computer. "I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I had to work this fast."

"Are you enjoying this?" The Protector demanded angrily.

"Protector, she's still down there."

~8~

Adam was running up a flight of stairs in a stairwell, followed by Rose who was on her mobile to the Protector. "This isn't the best time."

 _"Where are you?"_

"Level 49."

~8~

The Protector typed quickly on the computer. "You've got to keep moving, the vault's being sealed off, bulkhead level 46."

 _"Can't you stop them closing?"_ Rose demanded.

"I'm the one who's closing them," the Protector deadpanned. "I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run."

~8~

Rose and Adam ran up the stairs, the Dalek in pursuit.

~8~

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads."

"The Dalek's right behind them," Goddard said, worry clear in her voice.

~8~

Star heard the sound of yelling from where she was and stood up, following the distant voices and going up the stairs.

~8~

Rose and Adam rounded a corner on floor 46. "We're nearly there, give us two seconds," Rose panted.

~8~

"Protector, I can't sustain the power," Van Statten declared. "The whole system is failing." The Protector looked at him. "Protector, you've got to close the bulkheads."

She paused for a few moments, trying to summon the courage, observed by Van Statten and Goddard. "I'm sorry." She hit the enter key.

~8~

Star ran up the stairs, her brown hair flying out behind her as she raced up, two at a time as the voices got further away.

~8~

The bulkhead began to lower, Adam and Rose were nearly there. "Come on!"

A sudden scream caught their attention and the attetnion of the others from over the phone. Rose twisted round upon hearing the scream, tripping and falling.

The bulkhead was only about a foot away from the ground when Adam managed to roll underneath it, grabbing Rose as she fell and taking her with him, the phone falling to the floor on the other side.

~8~

Star rounded a corner and let out a terrified scream as she came face to face with the creature of her nightmares. A Dalek. She heard a slam further down and ran past it, knowing she wouldn't outrun it, but hoping. She made it to a closed bulkhead door and picked up a phone she recognised as Rose's from off the floor, just in time to hear her mother saying, _"-where are you? Rose, did you make it?"_

"Mummy," Star whispered. The Dalek was moving slowly as if it knew she was trapped and letting her have her final moments. "Mummy, Rose made it. I left the TARDIS to find you, and I was running but I didn't make it. I'm sorry."

~8~

Horrible shock spreaded across the Protector's face.

~8~

Star glanced behind her to see the Dalek round the corner and let out a heartbreaking sob. She turned away. "I love you Mummy."

~8~

The Protector was silent, just staring, horrified.

~8~

"It wasn't your fault Mummy. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault and it wasn't anyone else's, I should've gone to the TARDIS like I said. And do you know what?" She swallowed, wiping away her tears as she sniffed. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Tell Auntie Rose I love her. I love you."

Star turned slowly around to face the Dalek as it approached her, closing off the bond from her side too.

 _"Exterminate!"_

~8~

The Protector heard the sound of the death ray and she tore the earpiece off with a scream. There was a stunned silence in Van Statten's office as the Protector just swayed on the spot, her face deathly pale.

"I'm sorry," Van Statten mumbled.

The Protector turned to him, grief stricken anger on her face. "I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're _sorry_? I could've killed that Dalek in its cell. I told you it knew she was here! I warned you Van Statten! You heard me say it tried to kill her before! I could've killed it but you stopped me."

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten stuttered.

An even harder slap than before sent him reeling as the Protector screamed at him. "Your collection?! Was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth my daughter?!" He stared at her fearfully. "Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore. To be part of something greater."

"Exactly!" Van Statten yelled, standing up. "I wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt. And label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get." The Protector's face, contorted with fury suddenly softened into a sad, grief-stricken expression. "And you took her down with you. She was seven years old." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I said," she murmured quietly. "I said to you, if she gets hurt because of you that I would end you. I said it to you!" She round on him, her eyes flashing in anger. "I said I would. And I could." She raised her hand and Van Statten rose into the air, all oxygen being cut off from his lungs, his face turning purple. "I could," she repeated. "But she wouldn't want me to." She dropped her hand and Van Statten fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Turning away, the Protector stifled her sobs.

~8~

Her eyes were still closed, ready for the Dalek to kill her.

It approached but did nothing. It just stared at her as Star opened her eyes cautiously and looked round. "Go on then," she said softly. "Kill me." She swallowed nervously. "Why are you doing this? It's not like a Dalek to not kill immediately." She tilted her head to the side.

"I am armed," the Dalek said. "I will kill. It is my purpose."

"They're all dead because of you," Star said softly, still tense.

"They are dead because of Rose Tyler and I."

Star shook her head. "She didn't know," she told it softly. "You took advantage. And now what? What're you waiting for?" She stepped forwards slightly, hiding her sheer terror as best she could. "I recognise you," she murmured. "I shouldn't but I do. I have nightmares about you. You killed my Daddy." She closed her eyes, holding back tears.

"I'm...sorry."

Star's eyes snapped open as she stared at the Dalek in shock. "What?"

"It was...wrong."

"What?" She repeated again.

"I feel your fear."

"What?!" She uttered a final time.

"Daleks do not fear. Must not fear." It shot its death ray wildly at the wall either side of Star, making the girl flinch back in terror. "Rose Tyler gave me life," it said, almost hysterical. "What else has she given me? I am contaminated!"

~8~

Rose stepped out of the lift, raced across the room and flung her arms around the Protector. "I'm...so...sorry," she sobbed, hugging her 'sister' tight. "I tried to stay but he pulled me."

"I know sweetie," the Protector whispered, hugging her close. "I know."

The screen sprung into life, catching their attention. It showed Star standing by the Dalek's side, pale and completely terrified.

"Open the bulkhead or Staretalicia dies," the Dalek commanded.

The Protector took a few steps towards the screen, an expression of joy and relief breaking out onto her face. "You're alive!" Star nodded weakly, shifting away from the Dalek. "I thought you were dead."

"Open the bulkhead!"

"Don't do it," Star's voice was surprisingly strong.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the daughter you love?" The Dalek demanded.

She turned to Van Statten, who was looking at him, shocked. "I killed her once," she said quietly as she went to the computer. "I can't do it again." She hit the return key.

The bulkhead opened and the Dalek and Star slowly went through it, the little girl trembling in fear.

"What do we do now?" Van Statten cried. "You bleeding heart, what the hell do we do?"

The Protector stared at him wordlessly, Rose reaching out and grabbing her hand.

"Kill it when it gets here!" Adam suggested.

"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault," Goddard rejected.

"Only the catalogued ones," Adam said sheepishly.

Van Statten turned to him, eyebrows raised. Adam looked back at him apologetically.

~8~

The Protector was in Adam's workshop, going through a basket of Adam's un-catalogued weapons. She took one out. "Broken." She chucked it aside and took another. "Broken." She repeated her previosu action. "Hairdryer."

"Mr Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff," Adam began speaking, explainig why he had them. "And when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

"What, you in a fight?" The Protector scoffed. "I'd like to see that."

"I could do," Adam pouted, mildly offended.

"What're you gonna do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?" She found a suitable weapon. "Oh, yes. Lock and load."

~8~

Star and the Dalek were in the lift going up to Van Statten's office. The atmosphere was very tense, Star watching the Dalek's exterminator arm twitch slightly. "I'm begging you," she whispered. "Don't kill them, you didn't kill me."

The Dalek spun its eyepiece around to look at Star so fast she had to duck out of the way to avoid having her eye poked out. "But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?"

The door opened to reveal Van Statten standing there, waiting.

"Don't move!" Star called out in warning. "Don't do anything, it's beginning to question itself."

The Dalek advanced on Van Statten. "Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?"

Van Statten backed away, clearly terrified. "I wanted to help you, I just... I don't know, I, I was just trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you... I wanted you better, I'm sorry." The Dalek still advanced, backing him against the wall. "I'm so sorry!" His voice rose shrilly. "I swear! I just wanted you to talk!"

"Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!" Van Statten winced. "Exterminate!"

Star rushed forwards. "Don't do it! Don't kill him!" The Dalek spun to face her and she looked right into its eyepiece. "You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing... what else is there? What d'you want?"

The Dalek turned back to Van Statten and then back to Star. "I want freedom."

~8~

The Protector ran up the stairs, holding the alien weapon, followed by Rose. She needed to make it to her daughter in time.

~8~

Star walked down the corridor of floor 01 with the Dalek, stopping in the middle. The Dalek fired its death ray at the ceiling, making a hole through which the sunlight flooded, shining on the Dalek.

"You're out," Star smiled. "You made it. The sun is shining."

"How... does... it... feel?"

Before an astonished Star, the Dalek opened up its casing to reveal the mutated creature inside. It stretched its feelers out to the sunlight, it's tentacles slimy and an odd greenish colour. She gazed at it until a voice behind her made her jump.

"Get out of the way."

She turned to see the Protector holding a large gun, Rose standing beside her. The gun was pointed at the Dalek. Star stared at her for a moment, unmoving. "Lissi, get out of the way, now!"

"No," she said calmly, shaking her head. "Mummy something's happening to it. It's changing Mummy. Look at it." She stood aside and gestured to the Dalek who feeling the sunlight.

"What's it doing?" Rose asked, speaking for the first time.

"It's the sunlight," Star replied. "That's all it wants."

"But it can't..."

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me, it's changing. It said it was _sorry_ Mummy. It said the death was _wrong_. It's changing."

The Protector finally lowered the gun, a clatter sounding as it fell to the ground. She looked completely lost. "I...that Dalek..."

"Killed Daddy," Star finished. "I know. And it said it was sorry, that his death was wrong. Mummy, it needs another chance. Everyone deserves another chance."

"Even a Dalek?" Rose asked, compeltely confused.

"There's always hope Auntie Rose. Hope, belief, innocence..."

"Children..." the Dalek rasped, Star turning to it as it closed it's casing back up. "Children are so..." she frowned, stepping back. "Gullible!"

A scream rang out as the Dalek fired once, hitting Star directly in the chest. A second later, the Dalek was nothing more than pieces of casing and shrapnel in various places in the corridor.

The Protector ran to her daughter, falling to her knees beside her. "Mummy," Star whimpered. "Hurts..."

"I know," the Protector nodded. "You can do it."

"I can't," Star shook her head as the Protector helped her stand. "I can't do it."

Rose was watching on compeltely befuddled, though she let out a yell as Star screamed, doubling over.

"You can," the Protector said forcefully. "You can and you _will_."

"I-" she let out a scream, doubling over again. The Protector backed away, tears in her eyes as she held Rose back, her eyes fixed on her daughter. "I love you," Star gasped, before throwing her head and arms back, golden light streaming from her wrists and neck.

Rose flinched, hiding her face away from the bright light, the Protector just watching carefully.

It ended as suddenly as it started but Star was no longer there. Rose gaped as a short blonde girl blinked at them. "Mummy?" She tilted her head to the side, her voice different, lighter with a slight accent. "Mummy!"

The Protector engulfed her in a large hug, swinging her round.

"What's going on?" Rose finally asked. "What the hell is going on?"

"Let's get back to the TARDIS," the Protector suggested, holding the little girl's hand. "We'll talk there."

"But what just happened?"

"Regeneration Auntie Rose," the girl answered, her voice calm and though her smile was different, Rose knew it was Staretalicia.

~8~

Rose and the Protector stood by the TARDIS, Star already inside. The Protector had her hand on it, looking up at it pensively. "Another little piece of home," the Protector smiled sadly.

"Is that the end of it?" Rose asked. "The Time War?"

"Lissi and I are the only ones left. We win. How about that."

"The Dalek survived..." the Protector growled at her words, "maybe some of your people did too."

"I'd know. In here." She gestured to her head. "Can only feel Star."

"Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere." Rose smiled. "Though I do want that explanation."

"Yeah," the Protector nodded.

Adam jogged up to them. "We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared... they're closing down the base." The Protector faced him with her arms folded. "Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement! Like it never existed!"

"About time," Rose nodded.

"I'll have to go back home."

"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1500 hours."

Star stepped out of the TARDIS and joined them, Adam frowning in confusion. "Adam was saying that all his life he's wanted to see the stars..." she said to them.

"He can go and stand outside, then," the Protector sniffed.

"Munmy, Auntie Rose, Adam's been through a traumatic experience. One trip?" Star looked up at them with perfect puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

The Protector sighed, unable to say no to those. "Fine."

"What're you doing? Who are you?" Adam asked. "She said 'cement'. She wasn't joking, we're going to get sealed in."

Both the Protector and Rose disappeared into the TARDIS, followed by Star, leaving Adam standing outside, still wondering who the blonde little girl was and where the brunette girl was.

"Protector?" Adam called, sounding genuinely concerned for their sanity. "What're you doing standing inside a box?" He paused. "Rose?" He peered through the doors and stepped inside. The engines started up and the TARDIS dematerialised.

 **A.N: Well... that happened. I'm not even really sure where all that came from, it kind of just...happened. So we have a new Star, more reveal of the Protector's abilities and Van Statten has a brush with death.**

 **All rights for that threat go to my twin.**

 **Rose doesn't freak out, wonder why?**

 **That's all folks!**


	12. Much Needed (And Warranted) Conversation

The Protector turned to look at Adam as he stepped inside the TARDIS. "Let's get one thing straight," she said. "Ranking in the TARDIS. I'm at the top, my daughter Star (yes she's changed, get over it), my sister Rose. Then it's the Monkey Bats in the library, the Spider Rats in the basement and the bacteria in the toilet." The TARDIS gave a bit of an indignant hum at that. "Lastly it's you. Got that?"

"Y-yes Ma'am..."

And then he passed out.

"We have to bring him along?" Rose complained.

Star shrugged.

~8~

Looking in a mirror, Star tried to take in every part of her new body. She was still wearing the same clothes as before, but they were too short on her now. She was taller. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. She was paler as well, her hair blonde. Her eyes were a dark blue-green.

The Protector walked up behind her daughter and out a hand on her shoulder. "I'm proud of you," she murmured, rubbing her shoulder. She crouched down beside Star, so that they were level, looking in the mirror. "You look like me," she added. "You did before. You have the blonde hair from my fourth regeneration, the eyes from my second. You're a midget," she teased, Star poking her tongue out at her. "Just like my first. Your first was a midget too."

Star pouted at her. The Protector laughed. "Just because you've changed," she said quietly, lacing her fingers through Star's, "doesn't mean you're not still my little girl." She knew her daughter and she knew she was worried about her mother's reaction. "I'm not happy that you regenerated, of course I'm not. But that doesn't mean I don't still love you." Star sniffed and wiped away a few tears that had fallen. "I will always love you Karatelicia, always. Unconditionally." She pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "I love you to the end of the universe, round every star and every moon a billion times, through a supernova and to a black hole, through every room in the TARDIS and back again. Always."

"I love you too Mummy," Star whispered through her tears. "Always."

Neither of them saw Rose leaning against the doorway with a fond smile as she watched the mother-daughter hug, until Star pulled away and looked over.

"Explanation time?" She beamed with a grin. "Yay!"

~8~

"Can't you go back in time and change it?" Rose asked as they walked down a corridor, heading deeper and deeper into the TARDIS.

"No," the Protector said automatically. "It's a fixed point."

"If Mummy were to change it, then I wouldn't regenerate," Star began to explain. "Then she wouldn't have a reason to go back and change it. So then I would regenerate. Then she'd go back and change it. It's a never ending paradox and the last thing we need is reapers eating us."

"We can't change it, no matter how much I want to. Nobody is allowed to change the deaths of people we know for sure died. Nobody. Not even me."

~8~

Rose gaped around at the hologram images of nine different women, one being the Protector, the last Star and the current Star as well as eight different men, all getting younger.

"Mummy always seems to be quite young in her regenerations," Star explained, gesturing to the women. "Daddy...he got younger." She giggled. "But me...I don't know. I mean, I look older, but I'm one of the youngest Time Lords to ever regenerate and the only reason I was actually able is probably because of prolonged exposure to the Time Vortex. Travelling through time and space is good for some stuff," she grinned. "It's why I was so scared," she added. "I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but...I did."

Star shrugged lightly. "That was first Mummy," she pointed to a woman with dark brown hair. "That's second Mummy," she continued, pointing at a black haired woman with dark blue-green eyes and pale skin. "That's third Mummy," she pointed to the next hologram woman, a korean woman with dark hair. "Mummy always said that she was the odd one out, but now she's regerated again, so three isn't odd anymore."

"That was my fourth self," the Protector took over, gesturing to a blonde girl with green eyes and tanned skin. "My fifth self," she nodded to a woman with hair so black it was almost blue and striking blue eyes. "My sixth and seventh," she gestured to the next two, who were both blonde with blue eyes, however six was pale and seven was tanned.

"And then my first Mummy," Star cheered. "Eigth Mummy," she pointed to a tanned woman with brown eyes and long red hair.

The Protector took one look at Rose, laughed and leant over to use a finger to close her jaw. "B-but," Rose shook her head. "How do you change?"

"Regeneration," the Protector told her. "When a Time Lord is very close to death or dying they can rewrite their entire body clock. It makes them look completely different and with a different personality, but they're still the same person. Same memories, same person inside."

"I'm still me Auntie Rose," Star said softly. "Honest."

"I know," Rose said calmly, not hesitating. A sly grin came over her face as she added, "Blondie."

Star poked her tongue out. "You are too!" She retorted.

"I know," Rose repeated. "If only Tori was blonde, then we could really pass off as siblings," she mused.

Star giggled. "That'd be fun," she commented.

"Yeah it would," Rose agreed with a smile. She lifted Star up easily, the little girl resting on her hip. "I know you're Star, you'll always _be_ Star."

"You're taking this really well," the Protector noted. "I'd've thought you'd be freaking out."

"Oh I want to," Rose said, still grinning. "I just didn't want to upset Madame Butterfly over here, so I filed that under 'freak out about later'."

Star yawned and rested her head on Rose's shoulder, her eyes closed. "Right," the Protector said and took her sleepy daughter out of Rose's arms. "You've had a long day as well as regenerating. Bed time."

"Awww," Star grumbled.

The Protector shook her head and carried her daughter out of the room and into a room next door, thanking the TARDIS silently for moving her room. Star was out like a light as she lay her head on her pillow, her blonde hair spread out. "Love you babygirl," the Protector whispered, kissing her forehead softly. "Always."

~8~

It didn't take long for Rose to find the Protector later that...evening? Night? Whatever.

The brunette woman was sat in the library, her back to where Rose stood, a book in her hands, though in the five minutes Rose had been standing there, she hadn't turned a page and Rose knew she could read very fast. She moved and plucked a random book off the shelf, sitting across from the Protector in silence.

She wasn't reading the book she had picked up, what even _was_ the book she had picked up? _Twilight_. Ugh. She hated _Twilight_.

After a moment of simply sitting in silence, the Protector began to speak. "It's my fault," she said quietly, though loud in the otherwise silent library. "I know you'll say it's not, but it _is_. I should've protected her, it's my _name_. I knew that Dalek had killed her father." Rose gasped at the new information. "I knew it had tried to kill her before, I recognised it. I should've shot it on sight. I should've killed it in it's cage."

"Van Statten wouldn't let you. All he wanted was to keep it alive, Goddard told me all about it. If it's anyone's fault, it's his. If he had let you... destroy... it, then it wouldn't have escaped. You warned him and he didn't listen. If he had listened, then the vault wouldn't have had to be sealed off. Then Star wouldn't have got trapped with the Dalek and it wouldn't have tricked her. If it hadn't tricked her, she wouldn't have stopped you shooting it and then it wouldn't have shot her.

"There's so many ifs Tori." She stood and moved to sit beside her sister, taking the book from her and placing it down. "Too many ifs," she added, looking the woman right in the eye. "You can't change it. You said it earlier. It was a fixed point, it couldn't be stopped." She reached out and grabbed the Protector's hands, making her look at her. "It's not your fault. And I know you'll still blame yourself but there's _nothing_ you could have done.

"So don't think about how you could have changed it," Rose said softly, not just talking to the Protector now, but to herself as well. "Don't think about what would have happened if you had stopped it. It happened and there's nothing you can do about it. Instead think about that little girl, sleeping in her bed, alive. Different yes, but _alive_. Remember her? She _needs_ you, Tori. She's there and she's fine. Don't think about what you've lost, think about what you've gained. She might be different but she's still Star, she's still your daughter and she still needs you, she always will. You've got a little girl to protect. So do your job. Be the Protector."

The Protector pulled Rose into a tight hug, crying, but smiling at the same time. "Thank you sissy," she whispered.

Rose hugged her tighter.

~8~

That night as Rose lay down to go to sleep, she found herself thinking over her words and smiled. She had been going to ask Tori if she could go back and see her Dad, maybe save him, after Adam left. But she didn't need to. Because although she may have lost a father, she had gained a sister and a niece.

And she couldn't have been happier.

 **A.N: An insult to Adam, no reapers eating the Protector, some cute fluff, what could be better? Maybe... some reviews? Is it good? Is it bad? I just want to know what people think.**


	13. The Long Game

Star stood in front of the mirror in the wardrobe of the TARDIS, wearing the same clothes from before she regenerated. She had fallen asleep in them but the clothes just didn't fit right anymore. "What do you think Auntie?" She asked, not sure about what to wear.

The TARDIS hummed, not really helping.

Sighing, Star wandered around the first floor, looking at all the different racks. One rack caught her attention, though she tried her best to ignore it. Why? Because it was a rack of onesies.

Star rolled her eyes and skipped over, pulling a Tigger onesie off of the rack. It actually had a tail! Star giggled.

~8~

Rose's jaw dropped when she looked up as Star walked into the console room. The Protector sniggered while Adam just stared.

Star was wearing a onesie. And not just any onesie, but a footie Tigger onesie. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy topknot on her head.

She waved at them as she skipped down the steps, then twirled at the bottom, a tail bouncing out behind her. "What do you think?" She beamed.

"Beautiful Lissi," the Protector grinned. "Amazing."

"Liar," Star snorted and skipped over to the door, dragging Rose out with her, the Protector following them after instructing Adam to wait while they made sure it was safe.

In actuality, Rose had decided she wanted to mess with Adam and impress him with her knowledge of space.

"So, it's 200 000, it's a spaceship..." the Protector began, looking round.

"Space station," Star corrected.

"-space station," the Protector amended without missing a beat. "And uh... go and try that gate over there. Off you go!"

She leant against the TARDIS, waiting with her arms folded.

"200 000?" Rose checked.

"200 000," Star nodded.

"'Kay." The Protector grinned and raised her eyebrows. Rose giggled as she opened the TARDIS door and called inside. "Adam? Out you come."

Adam stepped out with his mouth hanging open. "Oh my God," he breathed, awestruck.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Rose patted his shoulder. Bouncing, Star moved round, inspecting the space station.

"Where are we?" Adam asked hoarsely after a moment.

"Good question," Rose said complimented knowledgeably, Star sniggering as quietly as she could. "Let's see. So, um... judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200 000." Star covered her mouth to muffle her giggles as Adam nodded and mumbled, still boggling. "If you listen... engines." The Protector watched her, smiling, while Star's face began to turn red due to holding back her laughter and holding her breath. "We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down..." Rose trailed off before shaking her head. "Tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on!"

Rose opened the gate, and the Protector, Star and Adam followed her into the room beyond. Star gasped, bounding over to a railing, leaning over it.

They were in an observation deck overlooking the Earth. "Here we go!" Rose continued. "And this is..." She paused as she looked down upon the Earth. Adam had to hold on to the railings for support as he made his way to her side. "...I'll let Tori describe it," she finished awestruck.

The Protector shook her head and gestured to Star who bit her lip. She shook her head. _'You describe Mummy,'_ she said quietly, then turned back to look at the Earth.

The Protector eyed her worried for a moment, before she shook herself. This was just part of Star's new personality. Where her old self had been confident and loved explaining and describing things, this Star was more shy and didn't do it as much. Come to think if it, she didn't talk _as_ much either. She still spoke to people, but not as often. Maybe she just needed to get used to the change and would come out of her shell later.

"The fourth great and bountiful human empire," the Protector announced, breaking herself out of her thoughts. "And there it is. Planet Earth at it's height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons - population 96 billion. The hub of a galactic domain, stretching across a million planets, a million species - with mankind right in the middle."

None of them noticed Star mouthing along.

Adam fainted with a girlish sigh. Neither the Protector or Rose bothered to even turn around. Star glanced back then shrugged.

"You wanted him to come," the Protector reminded her.

"Not anymore," she said airily.

~8~

Star walked along the corridor, her hand linked with Rose's, her tail bouncing. "Come on, Adam. Open your mind," the Protector slung her arms around Adam and Rose's shoulders.

"Just not too much," Star said vacantly. "Or you may not be able to close it again."

All three looked at her confused, but when she noticed their stares she frowned. "What?" She mumbled. "Why are you looking at me?"

"What did you mean not to open his mind too much?" Rose asked.

"I...didn't say anything," Star whispered, before pulling her Tigger hood up over her hair.

"Right," the Protector said after a moment. She shook her head and looked back to Adam. "You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent - culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners..."

"Out of the way!" A man rudely pushed past them.

The place suddenly sprung into life around them. Food stools were set up all around and people bustled past the quartet to queue up. There was much chatter and a lot of noise.

"One at a time..." The stall keepers took orders, and the place became rather busy. The Protector looked bemused. "Oi! You, mate! Stop pushing. Get back. I SAID, back."

Rose examined the fast food behind the cases and turned to the Protector. "Fine cuisine?" She asked cheekily.

"My watch must be wrong." She checked it. "No, it's fine... weird."

"That's what comes of showing off," Rose reprimanded. "Your history's not as good as you thought it was."

"My history's perfect," the Protector stuck her nose in the air haughtily.

"Well, obviously not..."

"They're all human," Adam muttered. "What about the millions of planets? The millions of species? Where are they?"

"Good question." The Protector paused. "Actually, that IS a good question," she realised slightly surprised. She jovially put an arm around Adam's shoulders as Star rolled her eyes. "Adam, me' old mate, you must be starving."

"No, I'm just a bit time sick."

"Nah, you just need a bit of grub." She turned to one chef. "Oi, mate, how much is a cronk burger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now, join the queue."

"Money," the Protector grinned. "We need money." She grabbed Star's hand and they went over to a cash point, sonic screwdriver ready. "Have to use a cash point."

Rose and Adam followed them as the Protector held her sonic screwdriver to the cash point and what must have been some futuristic version of a credit card fell out. It looked like a metal strip. The Protector handed it to Adam. "There you go - pocket money," she grinned. "Don't spend it all on sweets."

She walked away, swinging her and Star's joined hands. "How does it work?" Adam called, examining it bemusedly.

"Go and find out!" The Protector waved him off. "Stop nagging me! The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers." She paused as Rose laughed. Adam just stared at her, brow furrowed. "...or is that just me?"

"Just you Mummy," Star piped up.

"Stop asking questions, go on, do it!" She shooed him away. Adam turned and walked into the crowd. Rose made to follow him. "Off you go then Rosie-Posie!"

"You're going to get a smack, you are."

The Protector grinned. When Rose was gone, her grin faded into a more thoughtful look and she looked round, stopping two women named Suki and Cathica who were walking past chatting.

"Erm... this is gonna sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?" She asked.

Cathica and Suki looked oddly at her then Cathica did a double take when she saw Star, smiling shyly up at them in a Tigger onesie. Yes, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh still existed after hundreds of years.

"Floor 139..." Cathica finally answered, indicating a large sign on the wall. "Could they write it any bigger?"

"Yes," Star nodded.

"Rhetorical question Lissi," the Protector ruffled her hair.

"I know," she smiled, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

"Floor 139 of what?" The Protector asked after a moment.

"Must've been a hell of a party," Cathica raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you're on Satellite Five," Suki answered helpfully.

"What's Satellite Five?" Asked Star.

"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?"

"Look at me, I'm stupid," the Protector said pleasantly.

"Hang on, wait a minute, are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?"

"You've got me. Well done. You're too clever for me." She showed them psychic paper. "Also, it's bring your kids to work day."

Star waved with a grin.

"We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion."

"Right," Cathica said. "Fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor 500 I'll do anything."

"Why, what happens on Floor 500?"

"The walls are made of gold," Cathica spoke as if she were stating the obvious. "And you should know... Mrs. Management. So... this is what we do." She walked away and lead them to the screens. Suki smiled at them nervously. "Latest news... sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day... spacelane 37 closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf-," Star looked up at her sharply, "-channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant."

Bad Wolf. It was those words again, everywhere they went, but what did they mean? Bad Wolf.

"I get it," the Protector nodded. "You broadcast the news."

"We ARE the news," Cathica corrected. Suki smiled at the Protector again. She smiled back. "We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. 600 channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going though us."

~8~

 _"All staff are reminded that the canteen area now has self cleaning tables. Thank you!"_

Adam was sitting at a crowded table. Rose stood next to him, offering him a paper cup. "Try this. It's called "zaffic", it's nice. It's like a, um, slush puppy."

"What flavour?" He asked curiously.

"Um..." Rose tried it, making a face "Sort of, beef?" She guessed.

"Oh, my God..." Rose laughed as Adam shook his head. "It's like everything's gone. Home, family, everything."

Rose looked at him concernedly. She took her phone out of her pocket. "This helps... Tori gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?"

"Yeah."

She offered him the phone. "Phone 'em up."

"But that's one hundred and ninety-eight thousand years ago," Adam protested.

"Honestly, try it. Go on!"

Adam took the phone. "Is there a code for planet Earth?"

"Just dial!"

Adam did so. "It's on!"

 _"Please leave a message. Thanks, bye!"_ The tone sounded.

"Hi. It's... it's me. I've sort of gone... travelling. I met these people... and we've gone travelling together. But, um... I'm fine... and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye." Adam hung up, gleeful. "That is just..."

An alarm sounded. Everyone started to abandon the the canteen area, but Rose and Adam didn't. The Protector and Star were revealed through the crowd a short distance away.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!"

Rose, beaming, immediately got up and held her hand out. "Phone?"

Adam handed it to her and she walked over to join then. Adam followed her, looking conflicted. Then, seeming to reach a decision, he reched out and slid Rose's phone from her back pocket, sliding it into his own.

~8~

The six of them were now joined by several others in a room, where their work took place. There was a chair in the middle of a raised octagonal platform in the middle of the room, around which the staff were sitting cross legged. In front of them were pads on which to place their hands. The Protector, Star, Rose and Adam stood leaning against some railings at the side of the room. Cathica was in the middle of the octagonal platform. She addressed the room.

"Now. Everybody behave. We have a management inspection. How do you want it? By the book?"

"Oh, right from scratch, thanks."

Cathica turned away. The Protector and Rose smirked at each other. "Ok, so, ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Kadainy. That's Cathica with a "C", in case you want to write to Floor 500 praising me, and please... do..." The Protector grinned, giving a non-committal jerk of her head. "Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and be non-biased. That's company policy." She turned to smile at the Protector, who nodded.

"Actually... it's the law," Suki corrected with a smile.

"Yes, thank you, Suki," Cathica said irritated. "Okay, keep it calm... don't show off for the guests... here we go." Star scoffed at the irony as Cathica lay down in the chair. "And... engage safety..."

The staff held their hands out over their hand pads. Each of the eight walls lit up as they did so. The Protector, Star, Rose and Adam looked around. Cathica clicked her fingers, and a door in her forehead opened, revealing her brain. The Protector looked mildly disgusted, Rose alarmed, and Adam leant forward slightly trying to get a better look. The staff placed their hands down on the pads and closed their eyes.

"And 3... 2... and spike." From the contraption over the chair, a blue light spiked down into her brain, flowing into her.

"Compressed information, streaming into her," the Protector explained. "Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer."

Star stiffened up suddenly, her eyes focused on Suki.

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius," Rose noted.

"Nah. She wouldn't remember any. There's too much, her head would blow up." The Protector began to walk around the room, circling the octagonal platform. Rose followed. "The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

Star tilted her head, staring at Suki, searching her.

"So, what about all these people round the edge?"

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her..." Rose knelt down next to one of them for a closer look. "...and they transmit 600 channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place." She completed her circuit around the room and leant against the railing again, next to Adam. "Now, that's what I call power."

"You alright?" Rose asked Adam.

"I can see her brain."

Star walked towards Suki, her eyes narrowed. "Eva," she muttered.

"Do you want to get out?"

"No... no. This is technology, it's... it's amazing."

"This technology's wrong." Rose and Adam looked at him.

"Trouble?"

"Oh yeah." She smiled at her. Rose smiled in a satisfied sort of way. "Star? You alright?"

Star had her hand resting on Suki's cheek, her eyes closed. "No," she whispered. "Eva...no!" She brought her other hand up to rest on Suki's other cheek.

There was a slight shuddering sound, and Suki twitched. Star narrowed her eyes, searching Suki's face. _'Suki... Eva? Eva, can you hear me?'_

 _'Who is that?! Who is that?!'_ Suki's voice rang out in her head, scared yet forceful.

 _'My name is Staretalicia, call me Star. You have a job, I know, but I've seen what's going to happen. Eva, you're going to get a promotion, but when you do you can't go up.'_

 _'Star-'_

 _'Eva I mean it! I know what I'm talking about and trust me, you can't go up. If you do you're going to die, even with that gun. Which in all honesty, I'd rather you got rid of. But you can do that later. Eva do not go up, stay with me.'_

Suki gasped and lifted her hands off the pad as though she had just received an electric shock. Her eyes connected with Star's. The other members of staff were forced to lift their own hands too, and the lights in the walls turned off. The compressed information stopped streaming into Cathica and the door in her head closed. Suki rubbed her hands, breathing heavily as Star sat back slightly.

"Come off it, Suki," Cathica snapped annoyed. "I wasn't even halfway, what was that for?"

"Sorry, must've been a glitch..." Suki muttered. Cathica stood up. "Star..."

 _'Trust me,'_ the girl's voice rang in her head. Suki hesitated then nodded.

A loudspeaker sounded over the room and a projection sprung to life on the wall. _"Promotion."_

Cathica looked like she was praying just a little too hard. "This is it. Come on. God, make it me. Come on, say my name." The Protector, Rose and Adam looked at her with mild concern while Star sighed. Cathica was pleading, her eyes screwed shut. "Say my name, say my name..." she opened her eyes.

 _"Promotion for... Suki Macrae Cantrell."_ The words flashed on the projection. Suki's mouth dropped open. Cathica looked gutted. _"Please proceed to Floor 500."_

 _'I told you,'_ Star raised her eyebrows at Suki.

Suki stood up and stared at the projection as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I don't believe it... Floor 500..." Suki murmured awestruck.

Star narrowed her eyes at her. _'Eva...'_

 _'I won't go Star.'_

"How the hell did you manage that?" Cathica demanded. "I'm above you!"

"I don't know, I just applied on the off-chance... and they've said yes!"

"That's so not fair, I've been applying to Floor 500 for three years!"

"What's Floor 500?" Rose asked the Protector.

"The walls are made of gold," she replied tightly.

~8~

Star held her finger up to her lips and pulled Eva along the corridor. "In there?" Eva asked sceptically, looking at the TARDIS.

"Yeah," Star nodded. "You'll be safe in there."

Eva paused, hugged Star quickly and then let the little girl unlock the TARDIS. "Thank you," she said after a moment and slid inside. Star quickly followed, closing the door.

"Just need to get changed, it's so hot out there."

She ran off down a corridor, leaving Eva standing in the console room, her mouth hanging open as she gazed round.

Star returned a few minutes later, wearing a thin yellow tank top and black denim shorts. "Stay in here Eva, please."

Eva nodded mutely and Star went out, locking the door behind her.

~8~

"Where have you been?" The Protector asked when Star returned, taking in her change of clothes.

The blonde smiled at her. "I was helping out a friend."

"Where's Suki?" She questioned further.

Star simply smiled cryptically. "Like I said, I was helping out a friend."

~8~

Rose walked over to Adam who was sitting a short distance away. "Come on, it's not that bad..."

"What, with the... the head thing?"

"Yeah, well she's closed it now!" Rose retorted.

"Yeah but... it's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to... if I could just..." he struggled to find the words "...cool down. Sort of, acclimatize."

"How d'you mean?" Rose asked.

"Maybe... I could just go and sit on the observation deck? Would that be all right?" Rose nodded. "Soak it in, you know, pretend I'm a citizen of the year 200 000."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, no, you stick with the Protector and Star." Rose nodded again. "You'd rather be with them." There was another awkward pause, because it was true. "It's gonna take a better person than me to get between you three. Anyway, I'll be on the deck."

He got to his feet and walked away, leaving Rose standing alone.

"So," Star grabbed her hand. "Interesting information learnt," she folded her arms, leaning onto her left leg. "When you go up to Floor 500, you never come back."

The Protector looked at Cathica startled. "Is that true?!"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Is it important?"

The Protector looked at the closed lift doors, brow furrowed.

~8~

The Protector, Star and Rose followed Cathica through the canteen area. "Have you ever been up there?"

"No. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to 500 except for the chosen few."

Cathica entered the spike room followed by the Protector, Star and Rose. "Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance, can't you give it a rest?"

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?" The Protector settled herself comfortably in the chair on the platform. Rose leant on the back of it while Star sat on the Protector's lap.

"I went to floor 16 when I first arrived, that's medical, that's when I got my head done, and then I, I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all." Cathica eyed them. "You're not management, are you?"

"At last! She's clever!"

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me," Cathica said after a moment. "I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?" Star questioned curiously.

"Well, why would I?" She actually looked confused.

"You're a journalist! Why's all the crew human?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Cathica blinked at the change in subject.

"There's no aliens on board," Star remembered. "Why?"

"I don't know - no real reason, they're not banned or anything."

The Protector looked around the room theatrically. "Then where are they?"

"I suppose immigration's tightened up," she answered, stumped by the questioning. "It's had to, what, with all the threats."

"What threats?" The Protector queried.

"I don't know..." She trailed off, lost. "All of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away..." Rose, Star and the Protector watched her intently. "Oh, and the government on Traffic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see... just... lots of little reasons, that's all."

"Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice," the Protector exhaled, in an annoyed way.

"Protector, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything."

"My daughter and I can see better. This society's the wrong shape. Even the technology."

"It's cutting edge!" Cathica defended.

"It's backward!" The Protector rebuffed. "There's a great big door in your head! You should've chucked this out years ago."

"So, what do you think is going on?" Rise finally spoke up.

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back."

"And how would you know?" Cathica scoffed.

"Trust me. Humanity's been set back about 90 years, when did Satellite Five start broadcasting?" The Protector gave her a fixed stare.

"91 years ago..." The Protector nodded. Cathica looked away thoughtfully.

~8~

Star rolled her eyes as Cathica said once more, "We're so gonna get in trouble."

The Protector was scanning the side of a door with her sonic screwdriver, Rose standing behind her. Cathica went over to her. "You're not allowed to touch the mainframe, you're gonna get told off," she continued.

"Rose, tell her to button it," the Protector said, tired of her now.

"You can't just vandalise the place, someone's gonna notice!" Cathica whispered urgently.

"Oh button it," Rose and Star snapped, Cathica adopting an affronted expression.

The Protector grinned at them and wrenched the door open.

"Oh!" Star gasped, a beam lighting up her face as she took in the mainframe. She rubbed her hands together gleefully and dug in. The Protector watched her with a fond smile.

"This is nothing to do with me, I'm going back to work." Cathica began to walk away.

"Go on then! See ya!"

Cathica stopped. "I can't just leave you, can I!"

"If you wanna be useful, get 'em to turn the heating down," Rose said. "It's boiling."

"I agree!" Star's muffled voice came from inside the control pannel. The Protector smiled. Star looked just like her father doing that. He always was building things and messing with devices.

"What's wrong with this place, can't they do something about it?" Rose continued.

"I don't know, we keep asking, something to do with the turbine."

""Something to do with the turbine"." The Protector mocked.

"Well, I don't know!"

"Exactly! I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose, look at Rose." Rose turned round, smiling. "Rose is asking the right kind of questions."

"Oh, thank you."

"Why is it so hot?"

"One minutes you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!"

"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important," Star called, then squealed. "Oh that's interesting!" She squeaked as a few sparks hit her face.

"You alright?" The Protector checked.

"Perfectly Mummy," Star's voice was even more muffled. "Oh wow!" Cathica looked away, exasperated. "Oh, by the way..." a screen changed, showing the layout of Satellite Five. "Just hacked into the mainframe for you, take a look at it, I'm gonna keep investigating this."

The Protector turned the screen to Cathica. "Here we go, Satellite Five. Pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout." She moved to stand behind her so she could see. Cathica examined the screen.

"This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange... and you're looking at pipes?" She turned to her, bemused.

"But there's something wrong," the Protector pointed out.

Cathica turned back to the screen. "I suppose..."

"Why, what is it?" Rose asked.

"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out... channelling massive amounts of heat DOWN." She looked upwards.

"All the way from the top," the Protector added.

"Floor 500," Rose realised.

"Something up there is generating tonnes and tonnes of heat."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?"

"You can't, you need a key."

"Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here." The Protector gestured to the screen and tapped a few keys. "Here we go, override 215.9."

"How come it's giving you the code?"

The Protector looked up at a security camera. "Someone up there likes me." She turned to where only her daughter's legs from the knees down could be seen. "Come on Lissi girl. Time to go."

"Aw man," Star could be heard complaining. The Protector laughed and pulled her out gently, chuckling at the marks on Star's face and hands, but mostly the adorable pout she wore.

The lift doors opened on Floor 139, and Rose and the Protector stepped into it, Star skipping in after them. Cathica stopped outside. "Come on, come with us!" Rose offered.

"No way!"

The Protector waved. "Bye!"

"Well, don't mention my name," Cathica warned. "When you get in trouble, just don't involve me!" She stalked off.

"That's her gone," the Protector commented. "Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us."

"Yeah." Rose agreed.

"Good."

"Yep."

They grined at each other. The Protector slotted a card into the controls, and grabbed Star's hand, who linked her other hand with Rose's hand as the doors closed.

~8~

The doors open and the trio stepped out, Star immediately shivering at the cold. The Protector shrugged off her jacket, giving it to her daughter, her gratefully pulled it on.

"The walls are not made of gold," the Protector muttered, looking round. "You should go back downstairs."

"Tough." Rose strode onto Floor 500. The Protector watched her a moment, then followed. Star stayed round the corner, watching them.

~8~

The Protector and Rose found themselves in the Editor's room, where he was watching the screens. "I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two and that girl of yours... you don't exist!" The Protector and Rose looked right back at him. He laughed. "Not a trace! No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

"What's happened to them?" Rose looked at the working zombie Drones, moving forwards to crouch beside one.

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going. Like puppets," she spat.

"Ohhh! You're full of information! But it's only fair we get information back, because apparently, you're no-one." He laughed again. The Protector nodded. "It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, 'cause we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on." Two of the Drones restrained her. Rose tried to get up, but the corpse grabbed her arm.

"Tell me who you are!" The Editor demanded persistently.

"Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly gonna say, am I?"

"Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise."

"And who's that?" The Protector arched her eyebrows.

"It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." A creature roared from abive them, the tone angry. "Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are _allowed_ to live by kind permission of my client." He snapped his fingers and pointed upwards at the creature in the ceiling. It was a huge, slobbering lump of an alien with a mouth full of sharp, snapping teeth.

"What is that?" Rose asked nervously.

"You mean, that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?" The Protector sounded mildly affronted.

"That "thing", as you put it, is in charge of the human race." The Protector looked at him in alarm. "For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by its broadcast news. Edited by my superior, your master, and humanities guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe." The Jagrafess roared. "I call him Max."

The Protector smiled sarcastically and nodded, while round the corner Star had to cover her mouth to stop her snort of disbelief.

The Protector and Rose had both been restrained with manacles. "If we create a climate of fear... then it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy... invent an enemy... change a vote..."

"So, all the people on Earth are like, slaves," Rose glared.

"Well, now. There's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"

"Yes," the Protector deadpanned.

"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"

"Yes," she repeated.

The Editor laughed. "You're no fun."

"Let me out of these manacles, you'll find out how much fun I am," she snarled.

"Oh, she's tough, isn't she. But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit."

"You can't hide something on this scale," Rose scoffed. "Somebody must've noticed."

"From time to time, someone, yes," the Editor conceeded. "But the computer system allows me to see inside their brain... I can see the smallest doubt, and crush it." He grinned. "And then they just carry on, living their life. Strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual." The Protector spotted Cathica out of the corner of her eye, Star next to her. "When of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing."

"What about you? You're not a Jagra... uh... a..." Rose stumbled iver the pronunciation.

"Jagrafess," the Protector supplied.

"Jagrafess," Rose finished her thoughts. "You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Yeah, well simply being human doesn't pay very well."

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own."

"No! I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to um... install himself."

"No wonder, a creature that size." Star and Cathica, still hiding, spotted the Jagrafess on the ceiling. "What's his life span?"

"Three thousand years."

"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs - Jagrafess stays cool, stays alive. Satellite Five's one great big life support system."

"But THAT'S why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown." He gave a small laugh, then clicked his fingers. The manacles sent an electric shock through the Protector and Rose. The Protector slammed the barriers down on the bond between her and Star. "Who are you?"

The Protector grimaced in pain and indicated Rose. "Leave her alone. I'm the Protector, she's Rose Tyler, we're nothing, we're just wandering."

"Tell me who you are!"

"I just said!"

"Yeah, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly..." He stopped. The Protector looed at The Editor questioningly. He smiled. "Time Lady."

"What?"

"Oh, yes! The last of the Time Lords with her daughter in their travelling machine. Oh, with their little human girl from long ago..." He touched Rose's face gently, and she jerked her head away roughly.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Time travel."

"Someone's been telling you lies," the Protector snapped.

"Young master Adam Mitchell?" The Editor snapped his fingers, and a projection of Adam, writhing with pain and shouting, the compressed information still flowing into him, appeared in the air.

"Oh, my God, his head!" Rose shouted.

"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done?" The Protector shouted as Star gasped in horror. "They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!"

"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Protector. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S. TARDIS."

"You'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first."

"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key."

The Editor stepped forwards and pulled forcefully on the key that was hanging around Rose's neck, breaking the chain. She yelled out in pain.

"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing."

"And no-one's gonna stop you. Because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold." She was indirectly addressing this to Cathica, who was still listening, revelation showing on her face. She seemed to reach some sort of decision and pulled Star away.

~8~

Star and Cathica entered the broadcasting room on Floor 500. Cathica tossed the rotten corpse off the chair, and sat down in the vacated seat herself. "Disengage safety." The walls around her lit up.

~8~

An alarm went off. "What's happening?"

~8~

"Maximum access. Override Floor 139. And... spike!" The information flowed into her.

~8~

"Someone's disengaged the safety." The Editor clicked his fingers - the projection showed Cathica, the compressed information flowing into her brain. "Who's that?!"

"It's Cathica!"

"And she's thinking. She's using what she knows!" The Protector cheered.

"Terminate her access," the Editor ordered.

"Everything I told her about Satellite Five, the pipes, the filters, she's reversing it! Look at that..." The icicles were beginning to melt. "It's getting hot."

"I said, terminate!" He frantically placed his own hands over the corpse's. "Burn her mind."

~8~

"Oh, no you don't. You should've promoted me YEARS back."

"Yes they should have!" Star beamed.

~8~

All the screens suddenly exploded with sparks, and the Drones fell lifeless to the floor. Satellite Five shuddered, and alarms went off. Rose's manacles came undone.

The Editor tried to get the corpses to sit upright again.

"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano." The Jagrafess was roaring violently. The Protector laughe.

"Yes! Uh... I'm trying, sir but, I don't know how she did it, it's impossible. A member of staff with an idea..."

The Jagrafess roared angrily. The Editor pushed a body aside, and tried to operate the computer himself. Star raced in, throwing the Protector's sonic screwdriver over to Rose, while the Jagrafess roared and snapped at them menacingly. The small blonde snatched the TARDIS key from the floor where it had been dropped.

"What do I do?" The older blonde panicked.

"Flick the switch!"

Rose did so, and the sonic screwdriver buzzed. A small explosion went off nearby, causing Rose to jump.

She used the sonic screwdriver to free the Protector. "Oi, mate, wanna bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body. Massive bang!" She freed herself just as lumps of flesh started falling off the Jagrafess. "See you in the headlines!" She ran for it, dragging Star and Rose along.

~8~

The Protector, Star and Rose ran across Floor 500 hand in hand, avoiding the huge lumps of snow falling from the ceiling.

~8~

The trio entered - the information was still streaming into Cathica. The Protector clicked her fingers and the door in Cathica's head closed. She looks up at the Protector, who smiled down at her.

~8~

Everyone was recovering from the commotion. The Protector and Cathica were sitting at a table in the canteen area, Rose leaning on the bar behind them whith Star sitting on it.

"We're just gonna go. I hate tidying up." Star shuddered, thinking of when her mother made her tidy her bedroom - horrible. "Too many questions. You'll manage."

"You'll have to stay and explain it. No-one's gonna believe me."

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now," the Protector waved her off. "The Human Race should accelerate. All back to normal."

"What about your friend?" Cathica eyed Adam, who was loitering by the TARDIS.

"He's not my friend." There was something menacing in the way she stood up and marched in Adam's direction.

Rose and Star followed, neither of them bothering to defend or help him. Star, because she knew it was useless and because Rose had gotten hurt. Rose, because Star could have been killed.

The Protector advanced on Adam. "I'm all right now. Much better. Well, it's... I know..." he laughed nervously. "It all worked out for the best, didn't it?" He laughed again. The Protector grabbed Adam, and unlocked the door of the TARDIS. "You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge."

The Protector shoved Adam inside, ignoring him completely.

Star sighed in relief when she saw Eva sitting on the jumpseat. The Protector turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

"She was gonna die!" Star defended. "I don't know how but I saw it coming, I could see it happening. By the way her name is Eva not Suki." She hugged Eva tightly. "Thank you for listening to me Eva," she whispered. "Cathica's outside, go find her."

"Um..." Eva nodded and all but ran out.

"You and I will be having words later Staretalicia," the Protector pursed her lips.

Star winced.

~8~

The Protector steered Adam out of the TARDIS which had materialised in his living room. Rose and Star followed them out, shutting the doors behind them. "It's my house! I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home!" The Protector glared at him. "Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."

"Of course we weren't," Star rolled her eyes. Adam began to smile, thinking the girl may not be as angry. "The TARDIS doesn't have an airlock."

His face fell.

"Is there something else you want to tell me?" The Protector asked tightly.

"No. Um... what do you mean?"

She walked over the the telephone and picked it up. "The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world."

Adam looked rather caught out. The Protector put down the phone, and took out her sonic screwdriver. Adam looked as though he wanted to stop her, but couldn't think of anything to say, and merely pointed at her wordlessly while she blew up the telephone.

"Phone. Now," Star demanded.

Adam slapped Rose's phone into her palm while grumbling.

"You STOLE my phone?!" She exclaimed as Star gave it to her.

"That's it, then. See ya." The Protector walked back to the TARDIS doors.

"How do you mean, "see ya"?"

"As in "goodbye"," she said sarcastically.

"But... what about me? You can't just go, I've got my head, I've got a chip type two, my head opens."

"What, like this?" She clicked her fingers, opening Adam's head.

"Don't." He clicked his fingers and it closed.

"Don't do what?" Star mock-pouted and clicked her own fingers.

"Stop it!" Adam closed it again.

"All right now, Tori, Ali, that's enough," Rose cut in. "Stop it."

They backed down, pouting like a pair of children. Well, Tori was. Star just looked put-out.

"Thank you." Rose clicked her fingers. "Oi!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," she sniggered.

Adam closed it again.

"The whole of history could've changed because of you," the Protector said seriously.

"I just wanted to help."

"You were helping yourself."

"And, I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am, but you can't just leave me like this."

"Yes I can. 'Cos if you show your head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average. Unseen. Good luck." She opened the TARDIS door.

"But I wanna come with you!"

"I only take the best. I've got Lissi and Rose."

Adam's mum opened the front door, carrying bags of shopping. Adam heard her. "Oh my God."

"Who's that? Jeff? Is that you?"

"It's me, mum, don't come in, wait there a minute."

A look of surprised delight spreaded across Adam's mum's face. "Oh, my Lord! You never told me you were coming home!" Rose watched Adam's embarrassed face, teasingly, her tongue between her teeth. "Hold on, I'll just take my coat off. You should've told me you were coming home. I would've got your favourite tea in."

"Rose... take me with you," Adam begged. Rose, however, stared at Adam like she'd never seen him before, and boarded the TARDIS without a backward glance. The engines started up.

"Hey, I'll tell... what's that noise? Have you left the back door open? Blimey, there's a draft." She flung the door open just as the TARDIS disappeared. "What a surprise. Ah, let me look at you. Ah, six months." Adam nodded wordlessly. "It's like I saw you yesterday. Isn't it funny? The time goes by like "that"."

She clicked her fingers. Her jaw dropped.

 **A.N: So we see some of the new Star here, portrayed by the lovely Elle Fanning. Quite shy and quiet at first, but she quickly comes into her character, which mostly happens when she isn't around Adam. We see her telepathy is no just longer between her and her mother, but she can communicate with others as well. She loves fixing things as we see and is pretty impulsive.**

 **Keep reviewing!**

 **That's all folks!**


	14. Words

"I'm sorry!" Star exclaimed. "It was all I could think of, I needed her safe," she tried to explain herself the second her bedroom door opened. The Protector stood in the doorway silently. "I know I shouldn't have left her unsupervised on the TARDIS, but I couldn't think of what else to do."

"I know."

"You...what?"

Star blinked comically.

"I know," the Protector repeated, closing the door and crossing the room to sit on Star's bed, pulling her daughter down to sit beside her. "I know why you did and I'm not happy about it, no, but I understand. I'm not mad at you. A little annoyed yes, and you're definitely in trouble, don't think you're getting out of that one." She pointed a finger at her warningly. "But I understand. We all make bad decisions Kara and I think that today has been a day for bad decisions."

"You're not mad?" Star checked.

"No," the Protector shook her head. "I just want to know more about what you meant by seeing her die."

Star flushed. "I don't really know," she admitted. "It's like, I could see someone was watching us, that man. And I could see the people, their names, but Suki's was different. Her name was Eva, I could see it. Then I was in front of her and when I had my hands on her face I could see flashes of her, of what was to come. I saw her getting the promotion, going upstairs. I saw her screaming and then I saw her body, one of those zombie things. I saw it working.

"I knew I had to help her, so I made a link between our minds, it's gone now. I warned her, told her about what would happen. I warned her and she listened. I brought her back here and I _know_ that was stupid, but I couldn't think what else to do. Then I got changed, locked her in and went back to you."

Star looked up at the Protector with a weak smile.

The Protector shook her head with a laugh, ruffling her hair. "You, my darling, are just like your father."

"I am?"

"Oh yes," the Protector nodded, standing up. She pulled Star to her feet and swung her up so she was on the Protector's hip. "You are exactly like your father, especially when he was a boy. Me, him and your Uncle would go on adventures, we'd sneak out, then one day just me and your father. We stole a TARDIS."

"You didn't!" Star gasped.

"We did," the Protector laughed. "Went to a planet were the people were being controlled and killed by their ruler. We got split up, the men and women were separated. One man was scheduled for death and your father managed to break him out and proceeded to hide him in the stolen TARDIS. Your father then got caught and was hauled before the leader to be executed." She sighed. "I snuck up behind the leader, I was rather small back then, kicked him in the back of the legs. He fell and-" she burst into laughter. "He fell and his armour all fell off. He was a woman."

She continued laughing, Star giggling. "It was so funny, just to see their faces. I grabbed your father and we had to _run_ back to the TARDIS. I opened the door and what do I see? A man who I don't know comes running out, yelling that it is far too weird in there. I laid into your father as we piloted the TARDIS home. I continued to scream at him about his stupidity when we got there and that was probably what got us caught. I got in more trouble than your near deaf father though. Apparently they'd heard my screaming and decided that was punishment enough." She shrugged.

"I can imagine."

The Protector spun round and they saw Rose leaning on the doorframe. "So, tell us more about some of your adventures."

Star jumped onto her bed, the Protector flopping down beside her. "Come on!" Rose laid down on the other side of the bed, so that Star was squashed in the middle of them.

"Have I ever told you about the time the Doctor and I started a war between the Sontarans and the Rutans?"

 **A.N: So something's up with Star. Why am I not surprised it was the Doctor and the Protector who began that war?**

 **Shoutout to anyone who can guess who the character Liciya may be. Keep reviewing!**


End file.
